Feeding infants and young children with drugs several times the dose, and many babies were hospitalized due to the release of harmful substances from suspected decoration materials, and suspected of infantile abuse...... Due to the low entry threshold, blind spots in supervision, and serious brand homogeneous competition, there is chaos in the postpartum rehabilitation industry represented by postpartum rehabilitation centers (also known as "confinement centers").
Some confinement centers are troublesome for consumers
"Confinement" refers to the need for women to recuperate for 30 to 42 days after childbirth to recover and prevent the occurrence of confinement diseases such as puerperal infection and uterine prolapse. With the improvement of people's cognitive level, the consumption attitude of the new generation of mothers to "please themselves" is highlighted, and the market scale of the confinement center is expanding rapidly, but the resting place that should be worry-free makes consumers worry.
In March this year, Mr. Gu complained to the nursing staff of a confinement center in a northern city. Mr. Gu's baby was born prematurely with a variety of diseases and needed to take medication at a dose of 2.5ml each time. But he found that the caregivers were feeding 10 times the dose of the normal medication. It is understood that the contract for maternal and child care services signed between the confinement center and Mr. Gu shows that the name of the company does not match its external name. After the overdose incident, the two sides could not reach a consensus on compensation.
In April this year, the market supervision and administration bureau of a city in southwest China received a consumer complaint, saying that a confinement center painted and decorated the baby room without communicating with consumers, and sent the child to the baby room the next day. Five babies developed symptoms of pneumonia one after another and were taken to the hospital.
Some confinement centres and related personnel are even suspected of criminal offences. In November 2023, a nurse at a confinement center in Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, photographed the baby with a cerebral hemorrhage due to a bad mood; In March 2023, the Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission notified that a confinement center had used medical devices to provide diagnosis and treatment services for pregnant women without obtaining the "Medical Institution Practice License".
The entry threshold is low, and there is no unified industry standard
With the increasing demand of consumers for professional and scientific postpartum rehabilitation services, the postpartum rehabilitation industry has developed rapidly. According to Qichacha data, there are currently about 118,000 maternal and child life care enterprises in the country, and only 9,958 newly registered enterprises will be registered in 2023. Most of the confinement centers are set up in private hospitals, hotels or private residences, and some public maternal and child health hospitals provide postpartum health care services.
Mr. Ding, a citizen of Shenyang, thought twice and chose the confinement center under the Maternal and Child Health Hospital. "I chose this one because if the child encounters any problem, the doctor can directly intervene. Some confinement centers do not have a resident doctor, making it difficult to respond to emergencies. ”
A staff member of the Municipal Health Commission told the Banyuetan reporter that mainstream public hospitals provide basic public health services, and postpartum rehabilitation has the attributes of consumer medical treatment in the mainland. In nature, the confinement center is not a medical institution, and its business license and service quality do not fall within the scope of the supervision of the health department. However, infants and young children often have "minor diseases", and it is difficult for confinement centers to circumvent medical services in actual operation. "Our family mainly provides postpartum care, and also employs some professional doctors and nurses to guide babies in taking medication." A staff member of a confinement center said.
Article 4 of the Maternal and Infant Health Care Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "The health administrative department under the State Council shall be in charge of the national maternal and child health care work, put forward the guiding principles of grading and classification according to the conditions of different regions, and supervise and manage the national maternal and child health care work." "However, the provisions of the law mainly regulate the maternity care services of health care institutions, and confinement centers are not health care institutions.
In actual operation, most of the confinement centers involve a variety of businesses such as accommodation, catering, and diagnosis and treatment. The Regulations on the Administration of Sanitation in Public Places stipulate that there are seven categories of public places legally prescribed by the state, including hotels, restaurants, barber shops, beauty shops, etc. Confinement centers do not belong to any of these categories, and do not require a public place health permit, and only need to register with the market supervision and administration department to operate.
A staff member of the Registration Guidance Office of a municipal market supervision and administration bureau said that the city's registration authorities strictly implement the requirements of "non-prohibited entry" when handling the registration of business entities for applicants, and the business scope of business entities engaged in confinement centers is registered as "maternal and infant life care (excluding medical services)". Industry insiders said that there are also cases where "confinement centers" are registered as domestic service institutions.
The different services of the confinement center are supervised by different departments, and there is no separate management regulation for the confinement center. Song Weiqiang, director of Beijing Zhongbin Law Firm, said that there is no clear law in mainland China to determine a unified industry administrative department for confinement centers, and the actual operation is based on the principle of "who approves, who supervises".
On September 1, 2018, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China and the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China jointly issued the General Requirements for Maternal and Infant Health Care Service Establishments, which put forward general specifications in terms of personnel management, service provision, professional technology, documents and records, inspection and service quality evaluation. However, this document is a recommended standard and is not mandatory.
There are no blind spots in supervision, and the industry is gradually self-disciplined
On the one hand, there is no clear system management of any department, and law enforcement cannot be followed. On the other hand, the industry involves a wide range of departments, involving multi-department management, and it is difficult to coordinate. Therefore, improving relevant laws and regulations and clarifying the rights and responsibilities of the departments is an important measure to promote the development of the postpartum rehabilitation industry.
Legal experts believe that as a special service industry, confinement centers are related to the health and safety of pregnant women and newborns, and their operation must comply with relevant laws, regulations and industry standards, and the competent authorities need to be clarified. The market supervision department and the health administrative department should strengthen cooperation, strengthen license approval and daily inspections, and ensure their legal operation and service quality; Confinement centers that intend to engage in diagnosis and treatment activities shall apply for the establishment of corresponding types of medical institutions, and obtain the "Medical Institution Practice License" in accordance with the law, and include them in the scope of management of medical institutions.
As a sunrise industry, confinement centers need to gradually establish industry self-discipline due to the low maturity of the industry. Industry insiders suggest that we should first guide the formulation of group standards, with the government taking the lead and relevant departments participating, promoting the establishment of industry associations for maternal and child care institutions such as confinement centers, and guiding industry associations to carry out industry self-discipline by formulating rules and regulations, widely implementing service commitments, service conventions, service specifications, etc., and improving standards step by step.
Source: Half Moon Talk