Partner Profile

The Shanghai Children's Medical Center

by Dr Jing Yan Tang
Director, Oncology Center

The Shanghai Children's Medical Center is serving as a national training center for health care professionals and is providing state-of-the-art clinical care for the children of China.

Shanghai Children's Medical Center (SCMC), affiliated with the Shanghai Second Medical University, is a modern children's hospital providing clinical services, teaching and research activities. It is a joint effort between the Shanghai Municipal Government (represented by Shanghai Second Medical University) and US-based Project HOPE. The total investment in this 250-bed hospital exceeded $80 million. Since the SCMC opened in June 1998, the Center has rapidly developed its services to include medicine, cardiology, hematology-oncology, child growth and development as well as behavioral service, orthopedic surgery, oral surgery, ophthalmology, ENT, dermatology, and traditional Chinese medicine.

This hospital is equipped with a wide range of sophisticated diagnostic devices including MRI, spiral CT, biphase digital subtraction angiography, a range of nuclear medicine scans and much more. In addition, the clinical and monitoring facilities are among the most advanced in China, including 10 well-equipped operating rooms with modern anesthesia and surgical equipment, a 58-bed intensive care unit, each with a full complement of cardiorespiratory monitors, four laminar flow rooms for bone marrow transplantation and well-equipped ambulances for patient transportation. SCMC cares for critically ill children from all over China and South East Asia. It also provides technical and management training for health professionals from the less developed parts of the country, in addition to conducting pioneering pediatric research.

The Shanghai Children's Medical Center opened in 1998.

The Division of Hematology/Oncology is one of the most important departments in the hospital. It has 50 beds for children with leukemia and various other malignancies. Approximately 160 new patients are admitted for treatment each year, about half of whom come from Shanghai, and half are referred from surrounding areas. The cost of treatment for a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is approximately US$10,000-20,000 in the first year, depending upon the precise treatment, complications of therapy, etc. This compares with an average annual salary of US$2,400. Some 20 percent of patients do not complete therapy because of financial or other reasons. Patients are managed with the aid of a multidisciplinary team consisting of chemotherapists, radiotherapists, pathologists, and pediatric surgeons who are specialists in pediatric solid tumors, as well as imaging experts and pharmacologists. Every week, we hold a tumor board to discuss diagnosis and treatment protocols. We have achieved excellent results in the treatment of children with various malignancies. For example, the five years EFS for childhood ALL is approaching 75% and for NHL, 65%. Because of this, the Division of Hematology/Oncology has become well-known in our country as a reference center for children with cancer. We have established good collaborations with St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, The National Cancer Institute, USA, and the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research.

The doctrine of the SCMC is the provision of services for children and devotion to society. We aim to provide patient-centered services for the community in Pudong district, Shanghai, services for the whole country of China, and services for people the world over. We will strive to make this hospital a leading center in clinical services, teaching, and research.