Ground breaking ceremony for Optics Valley Tongji Children's Hospital is held on July 22. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The ground breaking ceremony for Tongji Children's Hospital was held on July 22 at East Lake High-tech Development Zone -- also known as Optics Valley of China -- located in Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei province, according to local officials.

They said the facility will be the first large-scale children's hospital in Optics Valley and after completion, it will become a leading children's hospital in Central China and one of the first-class children's hospitals in the country.

Optics Valley Tongji Children's Hospital belongs to the second phase project of Optics Valley branch for Tongji Hospital affiliated with the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), zone officials added.

The total building area of the project is about 105,000 square meters, with one floor underground and 10 floors above ground.

The hospital will boast emergency, outpatient, inpatient, medical technology, scientific research, teaching and other auxiliary rooms -- with supporting operating rooms, pediatric intensive care units, neonatal intensive care units, dialysis wards, restaurants and other facilities.

A total of 800 beds are planned and the daily outpatient reception can handle about 3,500 people.

According to the person in charge of construction, the design of the facility will consider the needs of children and will offer a recreation area for kids. At the same time, the hospital will set up five operating rooms and 14 bone marrow transplantation storage centers with a cleanliness of "100 level", which is currently the highest level of medical purification in China.

In recent years, the zone has continuously optimized its medical and health service system and has attracted many high-quality medical resources to settle down and set up an Optics Valley branch, officials said.

At present, the construction projects for the Optics Valley branch of Tongji Hospital include the Phase I reconstruction and expansion project and supporting project, the Phase II Optics Valley Tongji Children's Hospital and a national medical center designed to handle public health events.