Local public hospitals focus on health promotion

Local public hospitals are turning their focus from solely disease treatment to more general health services by enhancing health education and promotion. One hundred and twenty-five city- and district-level hospitals have been honored for their efforts in health enhancement, the Shanghai Health Commission said on Thursday.

The commission said Shanghai is renovating and perfecting its trio-level public health system. The city-level hospitals focus on complicated cases, advanced technology and medical innovation while creating and launching model health education projects to provide guidance and instruction.

District-level hospitals would be built into regional medical centers and step up cooperation and direction to community-based facilities, whose purposes are to become people's comprehensive health service stations nearby through offering whole-life management and intervention.

"The city's some-400 public medical facilities are the major force of our health promotion campaign and we will establish a mechanism to boost city- and district-level health promotion by creating more educational programs, distributing more financial support and awarding medics with good performance in health promotion this year," said Lu Taohong, vice director of Shanghai Health Commission.

"Medical professionals are encouraged to use simple and easy-to-understand measures and social media to promote health education, rule out public misunderstandings and promote a healthy lifestyle."

Local hospitals said they have enjoyed good outcomes from their focus on health education.

Officials from the Changning District Maternity and Infant Health Hospital said it has been promoting the benefits of natural birth among pregnant women, many of whom had planned for caesarean surgery due to fear of pain.

Medical staff promote education and guidance on natural births and share other patients' stories and experiences to eligible women. Its caesarean surgery rate was 34.52 percent last year, compared with the 50 percent in the city, officials said.