The number of pediatric beds nationwide in 2020 will be 550,000, and there is still a gap of 240,000 from the latest target for 2030.
Recently, the official website of the National Health Commission released the "Notice on the Implementation Plan for the Implementation of the 2021-2030 Development Program for Chinese Women and Children" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The Programme sets out 11 main goals and 8 main tasks to be achieved by 2030 for women's and children's health.
Image from: Official website of the State Council
The small editor of the "Medical Think Tank" has sorted out the "Plan", as follows.
By 2030, there will be 280,000 pediatricians
The "Plan" pointed out that the maternal and child health service system has been further improved. The number of practicing (assistant) paediatricians per 1,000 children increased to 3.17.
The main data of the seventh national census show that the population aged 0-14 is 253.38 million (17.95%), and the child population is nearly 250 million. According to the target set out in the Plan, nearly 280,000 pediatric practicing (assistant) doctors and 790,000 beds are needed.
According to the information of the January 2019 press conference of the National Health commission, by the end of 2018, the number of pediatricians nationwide reached 154,000, an increase of 28.3% over the 120,000 at that time, and the number of pediatricians per 1,000 population reached 0.63. "In the Outline Development Plan for Healthy China, it is proposed that the number of pediatricians per thousand population will reach 0.69 by 2020, and this goal is expected to grow at the current rate." And from the latest target of 2030, there is still a gap of 126,000 pediatricians, nearly doubled.
According to the "China Health Statistics Yearbook 2021", the number of pediatric beds in the country in 2020 will be 550,000, and there is still a gap of 240,000 from the latest target for 2030.
Image from: China Health Statistics Yearbook 2021
By 2030,
Provincial and municipal maternal and child health care hospitals are required to reach level 3
The "Plan" pointed out that to strengthen the construction of critically ill pregnant women and newborn treatment systems, there should be several critical maternal and newborn treatment centers at the provincial level, and there should be at least 1 critical maternal treatment center and 1 critically ill newborn treatment center at the municipal and county levels. Establish a multidisciplinary expert group for regional critical care and treatment, and improve the network of first aid, consultation, and referral that is responsible at different levels, linked up and down, orderly in response, and efficient in operation.
Improve the maternal and child health service network with maternal and child health care institutions as the core, grass-roots medical and health institutions as the basis, and large and medium-sized hospitals and related teaching and scientific research institutions as the support, and improve the supply capacity and level of maternal and child health services. Each province, city and county level has set up 1 government-run and standardized maternal and child health care institution. thereinto:
Provincial, municipal and qualified county-level maternal and child health care institutions meet the standards of tertiary maternal and child health care hospitals;
County-level maternal and child health care institutions with a population of more than 300,000 in the jurisdiction generally meet the standards of second-level maternal and child health care hospitals;
County-level maternal and child health care institutions with a population of less than 300,000 should open outpatient clinics.
According to the "China Health Statistics Yearbook 2021", there are 3052 maternal and child health care hospitals in the country, including 29 provincial hospitals, 376 prefecture-level cities, and 1128 county-level cities. This shows that the basic staffing of provincial and municipal maternal and child health hospitals has been completed.
Image from: China Health Statistics Yearbook 2021
According to the above-mentioned information from the January 2019 press conference of the National Health commission, by the end of 2018, there were 228 children's specialized hospitals nationwide, an increase of 19 over the end of 2016, and 50% of prefecture-level cities with a population of more than 3 million had children's specialized hospitals. This shows that on the basis of maternal and child health hospitals, the state is also vigorously replenishing children's medical resources.
By 2030, every primary care facility
All need to be equipped with at least 2 paediatric care doctors
Strengthen the construction of the county and rural grass-roots maternal and child health service network, implement the responsibilities of the county medical community for maternal and child health work, strengthen the construction of standardized outpatient clinics for maternal and child health care in grass-roots medical and health institutions, consolidate the bottom of the village-level village doctor and maternal and child specialist network, and give full play to the role of health promotion and publicity and mobilization.
Strengthen the cultivation and use of urgently needed talents for maternal and child health at the grass-roots level. Promote the implementation of the special post plan for general practitioners in primary medical and health institutions, and each township health center and community health service center should be equipped with at least 1 general practitioner to provide standardized basic medical services for children, and at least 2 doctors specializing in child health care.
What does this standard mean? Taking Shanghai as an example, at the end of 2021, the Shanghai Health Commission announced that 244 community health service centers in Shanghai have provided community pediatric diagnosis and treatment services, basically achieving full coverage, and each community health service center currently provides an average of 6 half-day outpatient services per week. In the context of the general shortage of pediatricians in China, this news is nothing less than a thunderclap on the ground, which has aroused the envy of many places.
Liu Tao, section chief of the Primary Health Department of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, shared a small story of resident feedback to the "medical community". The grassroots department once made a guest radio station, when the radio talked about the topic of pediatric services in the community center, the director response was very enthusiastic, there were many hotline calls called in, so they randomly connected 2 enthusiastic calls. One resident, who lives in Xinzhuang, Minhang, and the other on Youyi Road in Baoshan, which is located just north and south of Shanghai, shared their medical experiences and mentioned one thing in common:
Originally to go to the tertiary general hospital or children's specialist hospital to see a doctor, on the one hand, the queue time is very long, often three or four hours to start, on the other hand, may not even be able to hang up, the child in the hospital will be noisy, bringing parents a lot of time costs, medical pressure.
When they learned that the community center could also provide pediatric services, they went with the mentality of trying it out, and the results were very satisfactory, which brought them great convenience - "see faster, the environment is more comfortable." ("244 community centers fully provide pediatric services, why is the city so good?) 》)
According to the People's Daily (Overseas Edition), China is a country with a large population and a large population of children, ranking second in the world in the number of children. If the community pediatric medical services are done in place, it will undoubtedly be a blessing for the people.
Source: Medical Community Think Tank
Editor-in-charge: Zheng Huaju
Proofreader: Zang Hengjia