Efforts stepped up in China to cope with spike in children’s respiratory illness

Children have appeared to be affected particularly hard this winter, as parents have found difficulties in obtaining hospital appointments. - Reuters

BEIJING: China’s top health authority on Monday (Dec 4) required the relevant local authorities to “exhaust all means” to increase paediatric service capacity and stock up on paediatric medications and relevant medical materials to cope with a spike in respiratory illness among children.

All grassroots medical institutions should be open to child patients and are barred from turning them away, the National Health Commission said in a circular released on its official website.