“We will discuss with Takatsuki General Hospital establishing the collaboration plan year by year. In the first year, we will focus on new-born babies and food allergies,” Surangkana Techapaitoon, director of Samitivej Children’s Hospital, said yesterday.

Children need not only advanced medical treatment, but also mental and spiritual care, she said.

Under the agreement signed at the Japanese ambassador’s residence on Wednesday, both sides will work closely on the exchange of knowledge, expertise and experience in paediatric medical services.

Japanese are the largest group of foreign patients, with about 140,000 visiting Samitivej per year or 400 per day. More than half of the paediatric patients are Japanese children.

Samitivej will double the capacity of its neonatal intensive care unit to 20 beds to cope with growing demand.

Yoshiyuki Naito, chief executive of Aijinkai Healthcare Corp and director of Takatsuki General Hospital, said the collaboration would help Samitivej offer patients and families better health solutions.

He said his hospital would bring expertise in paediatrics and neonatal intensive care, including procedures for early premature birth and treatment for child allergies, to help boost Samitivej’s capability to screen and treat paediatric and new-born patients with medical problems