Family wards help parents with sick babies
The city’s first batch of 16 family wards for sick newborn babies has been in trial operation at a medical center in the Pudong New Area.
The wards have been organized by the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center.
Parents can live with their non-critically ill babies to learn how to take care of them from medical workers and help in their rehabilitation.
Compared with ordinary children’s wards, the family wards look more homely with a cot, private bathroom, rest and dining area and hot water round the clock.
A couple take care of their baby in the family ward at Shanghai Children's Medical Center.
Dr Bei Fei, director of the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center's neonatology department, said the wards can ease parents' anxiety caused by the babies' quarantine, establish an emotional connection between parents and babies early on and educate parents in how to look after their children when they are discharged.
Nearly 20 families were living in the wards at the center during a one-week trial operation.
