The Beijing municipal health bureau has ordered hospitals in the city with pediatric departments to offer round-the-clock emergency treatment for children who have flu symptoms and are running a fever.

In a late night meeting on Tuesday, the bureau also asked the 103 hospitals to extend their outpatient services in order to cope with the surge in flu cases in the Chinese capital city over recent days, the Beijing Daily reported on Wednesday.

Monitoring data showed that the number of patients seeking treatment for influenza at hospitals had increased to 6,000 by Monday, while the number stood at 2,000 only a week ago. Among the daily fever cases, most of them are children, especially primary and middle school students.

Fang Laiying, director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, disclosed at the meeting that confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu had been increasing by over 200 cases a day in the past two days. The Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control said the number of people suffering A/H1N1 had risen 12 percent to 5,851 in the past week, China Daily reported.

Beijing Ditan Hospital and You'an Hospital have been designated to receive children with severe flu symptoms, while two other elite children's hospitals have been told to set up medical teams to be ready to give support.

Fang urged parents to refrain from rushing their children to crowded major hospitals with light symptoms. Rather, they should first turn to nearby hospitals to seek timely treatment and if necessary, be re-directed to bigger institutions.

Since October 24, the Beijing Children's Hospital and the Capital Institute of Pediatrics have been treating more than 8,000 patients every day, over half of whom were complaining of fever, according to Deng Xiaohong, vice director of the bureau.

Deng said the bureau will conduct training for medical staff of intensive care units to enhance their ability to identify critical cases.

The government has begun providing A/H1N1 flu vaccines, with vaccinations scheduled to be finished by November 20 for primary and middle school students and public servants in Beijing. Vaccinations for the rest of the city will be finished by December 20, China Daily reported.

(CRIENGLISH.com October 29, 2009)