In Wuhan, the important city in Central and South China where two rivers converge and nine provinces are connected, there is a well-known large-scale Grade III-A children’s hospital, i.e. Wuhan Children’s Hospital.
Before the founding of new China, there wasn’t any children’s hospital in the three towns of Wuhan and there was a serious shortage of pediatric medical resources; after the founding of new China, to accelerate the development of medical care for children became the top priority. In May 1954, the then health department of Central-south Administrative Committee decided to appropriate a special fund to build a children’s hospital in Wuhan. On Dec. 26 that year, the fourth children’s hospital in new China, Wuhan Municipal Children’s Hospital, following those in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, was officially opened to public, with 40 beds and 113 employees. In 1991, Li Xiannian, the then Chairman of CPPCC, wrote an inscription for the hospital, “Developing Medical Care for Children”. In 1996, the hospital was listed among the first batch of Grade III-A children’s hospitals.
Brotherhood development in Central China: The hospital saw its big opportunity in Sept. 2003; it was integrated with Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Hospital of the same origin. Through continuous integration and development, the hospital has stood out in Central China with good reputation. In 2016, under the guidance of the then mayor of Wuhan, Wan Yong, the hospital was renamed “Wuhan Children's Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Wuhan Medical Care Center for Women and Children)”, to continue the glory upon consensus. In 2018, Wuhan Children's Hospital jointly managed the West campus with Wuhan Economic Development Zone. In 2020, we started the optical Valley Hospital construction project to build a "peacetime combined with wartime" children's hospital and a medical center for children's public health emergencies in Hubei Province, opening a new development pattern of one hospital and three districts.
Rising from obscurity with perseverance and practice: After more than six decades of development, the hospital has turned into a large-scale general hospital for women and children with complete specialties, strong technical strength, high-quality medical care, and excellent service level, boasting 1 national key specialty, 17 provincial key specialties, and 28 municipal key specialties. It is a member of the Society of Pediatrics, Chinese Medical Association, and the deputy leader unit of such national professional groups as neurology, radiology and intervention, and plastic surgery, with ever increasing influence. Since 2016, the hospital has joined hands with 207 medical institutions in the province to build the Pediatric Medical Union of Hubei and to establish the new system of regional tiered diagnosis. In Oct. 2018, the hospital was approved by Hubei Health Committee as “Hubei Children’s Medical Center”, to play the role of Hubei Pediatric Medical Quality Control Center and lead the pediatric medical care of the province forward. In 2019, the hospital took the lead in establishing Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Community, to establish the new system of maternal and child health service of the city. Adhering to the idea of “responsibility”, the hospital has set up a new pattern of fast and high-quality development of hospitals.
Establishing platforms and forging ahead with determination: In Oct. 2016, the hospital was officially listed as “Wuhan Children's Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology”. Academician Chen Xiaoping of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was engaged as Honorary President of the hospital. The hospital has successively been set as the “Clinical College of Pediatrics, Jianghan University” and “No. 6 Clinical College of Tongji Medical College of HUST”, and has become the first independent graduate recruiting unit of HUST among the municipal medical institutions. In early 2019, The hospital established the “Institute for Women's and Children's Health”, integrated multiple research platforms, set up the workstation for academicians and experts, built the basic experimental platform and innovation research base, and promoted the transformation of medical research results as well as talent training. In October 2020, we introduced the fourth-generation Da Vinci surgical robot, stepping into the era of surgical robot for women and children, thus achieving fast and simultaneous development of “health care, teaching, and research”
Originated in health care and based on culture: The staff of the hospital adhere to the motto of "caring, dedication, diligence and innovation" and the service concept of "patient-centered and caring", winning the honors of "National Civilized Unit", "National Advanced Collective against COVID-19", “National Top 100 Hospital”, “Baby-friendly Hospital”, “National Youth Civilization”, “National March 8 Red Banner Collective”, “National May 1 Pacesetter Post”, “National Demonstration Base of Maternal and Child Safety Quality Service”, and “May Day Labor Award of Hubei” for the hospital. And the hospital has been listed as the “Civilized Unit in Hubei Province” for nine consecutive sessions.
Shouldering the mission with a beginner’s mind: Wuhan Children’s Hospital is now striding toward its goal of "keeping a foothold in Hubei, first class in Central China, leading in China, and renowned in the world"!