Center: 'I love these children so much'

Video released

With palliative care gaining wider acceptance, more professional agencies have been established nationwide.

In 2010, the country's first palliative care agency for children, the Butterfly Children's Hospital, opened in Changsha, Hunan province.

In 2016, it released China's first public welfare video about palliative care for children. At a conference in Shanghai, the hospital said it hoped the video could help in providing care to the estimated 4.5 million families with terminally ill children.

In 2017, Beijing's first such agency, Daisy's Home, was established by a group of doctors.

The same year, the Chinese Medical Association's pediatrics branch established a children's palliative care team, which doctors from hospitals across the country have joined.

"It's better late than never," Zhou said, adding that palliative care for children is in the primary stage of development and lacks qualified pediatricians and medicines suitable for young patients.

"Things will get better if we keep making the effort," he said.

Like other agencies, the Nanjing center has experienced many difficulties, including a financial crisis, labor shortage and lack of policy support.

"It was especially difficult when the center started," Huang said. "At the time, I even thought I would take the children home to care for them, instead of abandoning them due to the financial pressure the center faced.

"The staff members work under great pressure now at the center. They need to have a rest and the center needs more volunteers and professional social workers."

The center also has a problem in attracting public and corporate donations, as they are not tax deductible.

Huang suggested that community hospitals should receive proper training and provide palliative care to more families in need.

"Our strength is limited. Help from community hospitals will be crucial for terminally ill children to be comfortable during their final days," she said.

Huang also wants to educate children about life and death. "It's not only about what we should do when we are leaving the world, but more about how we value life and how we should treat each life equally," she said.

Guo Jun contributed to this story.