Extra beds not baby boom answer
Print Edition
MAJOR maternity hospitals in the city this month began dealing with a 30 percent increase in deliveries, after each added 100 beds.
But while Shanghai’s three leading maternity hospitals were told by the city government last year to create these new beds to deal with a baby boom, officials say this is no long-term solution.
Instead, to tackle the current bed shortage, the city should establish a proper system which would place pregnant women into different categories of need, say health officials.
Under the system, mothers-to-be with high-risk complications would be sent to advanced hospitals, while those whose deliveries are expected to go smoothly would be admitted to hospitals near their homes.
The city has 81 hospitals that offer maternity services with a total of 3,664 beds. Between them, they can deliver 250,000 babies a year.
A record of nearly 240,000 babies were delivered in Shanghai last year — the auspicious Year of the Dragon.
At the moment, admissions are skewed, with top maternity hospitals full, while in district hospitals there is only 80 percent bed occupancy.
This could impact service quality and jeopardize patient safety, doctors fear, as top hospitals are having to put beds in corridors and shorten patients’ hospitalization period.
“Shanghai has enough beds for pregnant women, but people prefer top hospitals which are working under extremely heavy workloads,” said Dr Duan Tao, president of Shanghai No. 1 Maternity and Child Health Hospital.
The hospital last year delivered 14,975 babies, the largest number in the city.
With the 100 extra beds, this has added to pressures, said Duan.
“We are shortening the hospitalization period from three days to two days for women who have a caesarean birth, while those who have a natural birth stay one day instead of two,” Duan said.
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