Guangzhou will soon build an advanced women and children's hospital to ease overcrowding by the end of 2006.

The hospital, to be located in the downtown area of Tianhe District, will be the largest and most advanced hospital for women and children in the city, the Guangzhou Daily reported Saturday.

The hospital will occupy 27,600 square meters and accommodate up to 700 beds. Construction of the hospital will start in March 2005 and will be completed at the end of 2006, costing 400 million yuan.

The new hospital will combine the Women and Children's Hospital of Guangzhou and the Guangzhou Children's Hospital, both among the best hospitals for women and children in the city.

While some high-tech projects in the two hospitals will be moved to the new hospital, the two hospitals will not move all their staff and facilities to the new hospital. Spokespersons of the two hospitals said they would continue to serve at the current sites.

Guangzhou did not lack such hospitals, but most of them were old and small, and the good ones were always crowded, said the Guangzhou Daily.

"About 4,500 women give birth at the Women and Children's Hospital of Guangzhou, but we have only 258 beds," said Mai Weiyang, Party secretary of the hospital. About 80,000 to 90,000 women gave birth in Guangzhou annually, said Mai.

The Guangzhou Children's Hospital, meanwhile, is always crowded with noisy children. "The hospital is the most crowded provincial-level children's hospital in China," said Gong Sitang, deputy head of the hospital.

The hospital receives more than 3,000 patients each day, but it can only accommodate 480 inpatients at most.

(Xiao Deng)

 
Editor: Catherine