Singapore - A Singapore hospital has developed a way for women to give birth with less pain, doctors said in a published report on Saturday.

Anaesthetic is released through the spine to numb the body, an epidural, in amounts and at intervals controlled by the woman in labour at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

The new method of delivering the epidural even does away with "breakthrough pain," felt despite being given an anaesthetic, said the findings in The Straits Times.

Women in labour given conventional epidurals usually first receive an injection of the anaesthetic. They are then hooked to a pump which releases a fixed dose of the drug continuously throughout labour.

Some patients on new pumps can press a button to get an extra dose of the drug, but it takes about 10 minutes to kick in.

"Ten minutes is a long time if you are in pain, so it's not ideal," Professor Alex Sia, head of the women's anaesthesia department, was quoted as saying.

The programme he designed monitors how frequently a woman presses the button for extra doses and adjusts the continuous dose accordingly.

He designed a prototype device which is connected to the pump. Engineers from Nanyang Polytechnic refined it and other doctors at the hospital tested it on their patients.

The hospital plans to have the device in all of its 32 labour rooms by the end of next year. (dpa)