The State Council, China's top governing body, has endorsed an
initiative to establish a national quick response mechanism to deal
with public health emergencies.
The immediate establishment of such a mechanism is vital to
safeguarding public health and the lives of the people, according
to an executive meeting of the State Council held Monday.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao chaired the meeting which heard a report
from the Ministry of Health on the setting up of such a
mechanism.
According to the meeting, the quick response mechanism will be
directed by the central government, with governments at various
levels shouldering different responsibilities. The mechanism should
have a strong legal framework, a sound monitoring system and
adequate basic facilities.
The meeting also outlined urgent tasks for the establishment of the
mechanism, such as promulgating relevant laws and regulations,
establishing a rapid response command system, improving information
network, establishing a national and local disease prevention and
treatment network, and strengthening the medical force.
China Launches Emergency Research Program on SARS
The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of
Health have launched a joint emergency research program on SARS.
The 1.2-million-US-dollar program will look into the cause of the
disease and effective prevention and treatment measures. It's also
meant to enhance China's emergency-response capacity in the event
of an outbreak of new contagions.
It's testing time for the nation's medical workers with the cause
of SARS not yet identified and its prevention and treatment calling
for improvement. To rally the best resources and personnel in the
fight against the disease, the Ministry of Science and Technology
and the Ministry of Health started a joint research mission on
Monday.
Moving with a rarely seen urgency, the Ministry of Science and
Technology immediately allocated some 10 million RMB, or some 1.2
million US dollars. An initial fund of 400,000 US dollars has
already been put in place.
A
ministry spokesman says the project has two objectives. "In the
short run, the program focuses on finding effective treatment of
SARS patients, identifying its cause and containing its spread. In
the long run, the project aims to enhance China's overall
preventative and treatment ability of newly-found epidemics. This
will be done through further research in such areas as virus
screening, speedy diagnosis, disease monitoring and related
pharmaceutical development," said Shi Dinghuan, secretary general
with the Ministry of Science and Technology.
So
far China has gained some headway in the research on SARS. Experts
at the Monday meeting say they hope this joint endeavor will help
shed light on the remaining tough questions.
"The Chinese diagnosis of SARS has been accepted by the WHO. And
while the origin of the disease is unclear, we've worked out quite
effective measures to contain it. This is shown in the reduced
number of medical workers being affected. There still remains much
to be done, and we believe this joint effort will accelerate the
research," said Yang Xiaoguang, deputy director of Chinese Center
for Disease Control and Prevention.
(People's Daily April 15, 2003)