Breathing fresh air into medical reforms(5)

Pediatric services

As children are vulnerable to seasonal viruses, legislators and political advisers urged greater efforts to establish more reliable pediatric services at primary medical facilities.

There are 335 community health service centers in Shanghai, and the number of those providing pediatric care rose from 125 in 2019 to 246 in 2023. However, many parents said that they are still hesitant to send their children to primary facilities due to not enough choices of medicine and inadequate equipment for testing and physical checkups. Concerns were also expressed over the professional skills of doctors at the centers.

The majority of primary medical institutions that have pediatric care only provide such services between half a day and two days a week. Most of them do not have full-time pediatricians, and they rely on doctors from higher-level hospitals to see the young patients.

"We can't control when children fall ill and there is no emergency service at night or on the weekend. These are the main reasons why I won't prioritize such facilities for my choice," said Zhou Wenshu, the mother of a 1-year-old boy.

Ma Jin, a political adviser in Shanghai, suggested improving the provision of children's medication and test kits at primary medical institutions to better diagnose and treat basic pediatric diseases.

"When a minor can be accurately diagnosed the first time, basic treatment can be carried out to avoid their disease progressing to a severe condition," Ma said.

Some primary institutions said that they have stepped up their testing capabilities in recent years. At the Xinhua Subdistrict Community Health Service Center in Changning district, tests for respiratory pathogens, including influenza A and B, mycoplasma, adenovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus, have all been available in the past year.

Ma suggested that all the primary medical institutions in Shanghai provide basic pediatric services around the clock.

However, it is impractical for each community center to have a full-time pediatrician, so general practitioners need to be equipped with basic pediatric medical skills, he added.