A NEWBORN emergency treatment center jointly launched by Shenzhen Maternity and Child Health-care Hospital and a medical expert team specializing in the treatment of critically ill newborns from the Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZUCH) was inaugurated Tuesday at the Shenzhen hospital, according to sznews.com.

The cooperation between the Shenzhen hospital and the medical team led by Prof. Du Lizhong from ZUCH is part of the city’s “3R Project” aiming to introduce top-notch medical experts and resources to Shenzhen.

As the “two-child policy” was introduced last year, the number of advanced-aged pregnant mothers has been increasing in Shenzhen, leading to rises in the rates of pregnancy complications and critically ill newborns. There were around 15,000 newborns suffering from pathological conditions and 4,000 preemies hospitalized over the past few years citywide, according to the report.

Prof. Du, president of ZUCH, said his team has an abundance of experience in the comprehensive treatment of critically ill newborns, such as the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory failure, persistent pulmonary hypertension, bilirubin encephalopathy and birth defects in newborns. He said his team would share its experience with the Shenzhen hospital in the form of personnel training, thus improving the hospital’s level of medical treatment.

The Shenzhen hospital’s president, Yao Jilong, said the city’s residents had high expectations for the emergency treatment of premature babies and critically ill newborns, and both hospitals would cooperate in various aspects including the joint operation of the newborn emergency treatment center.

The hospital has 110 beds in its neonatology department, which receives 6,500 newborns each year. The survival rate of preemies being treated at the hospital is 98.9 percent, while the survival rate of extremely premature infants, who are born before 28 weeks of pregnancy, is 84 percent.

In 2015, an extremely premature infant, who was born in the 24th week of pregnancy in critical condition, fully recovered after being treated at the hospital. The hospital also saved another extremely premature baby, who was born in the 23rd week of pregnancy weighing only 480 grams, earlier this year.

(Zhang Yang)