Health | Pediatric Rehabilitation Center inaugurated

The Pediatric Rehabilitation Center, officially established in the Areia Preta Health Center yesterday, is expected to provide better and faster medical assistance to children with developmental difficulties.

Alexis Tam, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, informed, during the center’s inauguration, that it is expected to serve more than 7,000 requests.

According to Tam, the new center will greatly shorten the waiting time each child endures to get medical treatment after being through an assessment at the pediatric assessment center located in the Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário (CHCSJ).

Simultaneously, a children’s assessment center’s website was launched to broaden the knowledge of the society about developmental difficulties in early childhood.

To meet the needs of an expanded pediatric service, the MSAR government is hiring more professional physicians, establishing more pediatric treatment facilities and spaces, and investing more resources in pediatric services.

The secretary revealed that the Health Bureau, along with the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau, and the Social Welfare Bureau will create a central distribution mechanism of pediatric resources.

Workshops and training courses for parents will also be held to enhance the support to the families in their domestic rehabilitation works.

As disclosed by Tam, CHCSJ’s pediatric assessment center has handled more than 1,000 individual cases, with the waiting time for pediatric assessment shortened to one month from the previous nine to twelve months.

Over 70 percent of the total number of evaluated children were said to need further speech, behavior and other types of training. Currently, there are three speech therapists at the rehabilitation center.

In addition, Tam informed that, in the upcoming academic year, the Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) will open a physical therapy course and will offer 20 vacancies to interested students.

Tai Wa Hou, adviser at the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, stated that every child with speech difficulties will undergo medium term treatment that will cover, on average, eight to 10 independent treatments.

Tai pointed out that, in the past, a child would have to wait one to 10 years until eventually receiving treatment.

Thanks to the opening of this new rehabilitation center, the treatment- waiting period can be reduced to somewhere between a half-year and nine months.

The new rehabilitation center features two speech treatment lounges, one activity lounge and two other occupational treatment lounges. The center can provide treatment to four to six children simultaneously.