Shanghai Sets up Emergency Network for ChildrenShanghai has set up a round-the- clock emergency network catering to newborns and children in distress.The Shanghai Children's Emergency Treatment Center Network is used when transferring newborns and their parents to specialized children's hospitals, says a Shanghai Daily report Friday. It has saved four premature babies weighing less than 1,000 grams each in addition to helping in 11 other cases related to poisoning, an accident and drowning since it started functioning last month. The center has been housed in four hospitals in the town and is also available to other hospitals lacking facilities to treat children in emergencies, including those in neighboring provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in east China. Its ambulances are equipped with incubators and respirators for premature babies, none of which are available in ordinary ambulances up to date, Tang Dinghua, deputy director of the center, was quoted as saying. Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau and the four cooperative hospitals have jointly spent more than three million yuan (361,000 US dollars) importing equipment. About five to 10 percent of the average 67,000 babies born each year in Shanghai are delivered prematurely, said Tang. The chances for babies weighing less than 1,500 grams surviving in ordinary hospitals were very slim, if without experienced medical staff and advanced equipment. It ranged from 60 to 70 percent in the children's hospitals. The infant mortality rate in Shanghai is 0.553 percent, says the report. |
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