Pediatric crisis a growing concern

By Lee Michael Hannon

China Daily, February 24, 2011

Then there's the cost issue. Many hospitals were forced to close down their pediatric wards because they were not profitable. Hospitals make money from drugs, and while an adult may need two tablets to treat a condition, a child might only need a quarter.

And then there is the fact that pediatrics is light on profits but heavy on litigation and medical disputes.

The reason behind the spiraling numbers is not just a growing population, it is also the psychology of the parents.

In a country where the family planning policy applies, parents will seek out the best medical care for their offspring. Some travel hundreds of miles to specialist children's hospitals because their local medical facility has been unable to cure their child. Others are not convinced of their local pediatrician's skills and want their child to be seen by the best despite enduring a much longer wait.

In Beijing, there are just two dedicated children's hospitals - Beijing Children's Hospital and the Capital Institute of Pediatrics. Another 100 hospitals have pediatric departments, but figures show 90 percent of child patients are treated at the two hospitals.

At Beijing Children's hospital, 7,000 patients turn up each day - it can reach 10,000 - despite it having a design capacity for only 4,000.

It's a similar story at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics, which treated 1.7 million patients in 2010, up from 800,000 in 2003.

It all adds up to a system that is sick and in desperate need of a cure. Let's hope we heed the calls of the medical professionals who spoke out last week and pediatric care becomes a priority in the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

We can't afford to wait another minute when children are dying to see a doctor.

The author is a copy editor with China Daily website.