The Neonatal Diagnosis and Treatment Center of the Shanghai-based Children's Hospital of Fudan University, the country's only center of its kind that occupies an independent building as of now, officially opened on Wednesday.

Supported by the platform of the hospital, which is a national children's medical center, the upgraded facility will concentrate on the diagnosis, treatment and research of all the major, special, critical and complex diseases related to newborns.

The center is equipped with four intensive care units. They are for premature infants, those who have underwent surgical operations, and babies that have neurological and infection conditions respectively. There are two units that allow family companionship as well.

The neonatal department of the medical institution has long been safeguarding many difficult and critically ill newborn cases in Shanghai and beyond. It treats an average of more than 4,000 newborns each year. Among all the medical institutions specializing in children's diseases throughout the country, it treats the largest number of newborns with very low and ultra-low birth weights.

Between 300 or 400 cases of premature and ultra-premature infants are admitted to the Shanghai hospital each year. It said that the pediatrics circle is faced with challenges, including a rising the number of preterm babies and younger gestational age at birth from a global perspective. Causes of preterm babies are related to diseases, assisted reproduction, postponed reproductive age and other social factors.

The hospital has continuously introduced advanced treatment concepts and technologies in recent years to carry out refined management of premature infants, and both the mortality rate and incidence of serious adverse prognosis of premature infants have decreased significantly.