Led by the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, a network consisting of three district-level comprehensive hospitals and 13 neighborhood health centers in Minhang Disitrict was established for disease management, screening and database construction.

With the guidance of the children’s hospital, neighborhood health centers will carry out regional disease screenings in kindergartens and schools in the district for early detection and intervention.

“The network is built on the base of a health system, which consists of the children’s hospital and other district hospitals and neighborhood health centers in order to improve the health capability in the grassroots and encourage patients to visit nearby hospitals for common and chronic diseases,” said Dr Huang Guoying, president of the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University. “We offer training and expert support in grassroots hospitals and send specialists working in these hospitals regularly to attract patients.”

Since the system was established in 2014, the number of outpatients in medical facilities in Minhang District rose by 26 percent, while patients visiting the children’s hospital dropped by 22 percent. Patients with common diseases visiting the children’s hospital dropped from 35 percent in 2014 to 25 percent in 2018. “Which means the system has worked well,” Huang said.

The new network is an upgrade of the system and focuses on disease screening and early detection instead of treatment.

“We plan to set up a diagnosis standard and hospital transfer guideline for common children’s diseases,” Huang said.