The State Council, or the Chinese Cabinet, has published
emergency plans for four different types of public health
incidents in a determined effort to cut the impact of these events
to the minimum.
The emergency plans cover public health incidents, medical
treatment and first aid administered at accidents, another is for
major animal epidemics and one relates to food safety.
According to a State Council document the plans provide
guidelines for the handling of sudden major infectious diseases,
unidentified diseases affecting groups of people and major
incidents of food poisoning.
China will set-up a unified national monitoring and emergency
response network for early detection of incidents which might have
an affect on the health of the general public. The emergencies will
be handled by government departments at different levels depending
on how serious they are.
A second emergency plan was issued on medical and health
assistance for those involved in or affected by accidents. It's
designed to assist reduce the impact on those involved to the
minimum.
The plan contains guidelines for the administration of
assistance to casualties and those involved in accidents. The
health authorities at different levels require to set-up groups who
can move rapidly to deliver medical assistance in line with the
guidelines.
The third emergency plan is for the handling of major animal
epidemics which could cause ill health in humans and result in the
loss of stock. According to the plan, the country will set-up a
monitoring and reporting network for such outbreaks with vets
analyzing the information collected by the network and issuing
warning as appropriate.
The Ministry of Agriculture would be responsible for
coordinating the handling of any national animal epidemics.
The fourth plan is designed to deal with major food safety
incidents. All the major dietetically caused diseases which can
appear during planting, breeding, processing, packaging, storing,
transportation, circulation and consumption will be under strict
supervision.
The government will set-up a national unified monitoring and
reporting system and a dedicated nationwide phone number for the
reporting of such incidents. If a major food incident did occur the
response would come from the national emergency headquarters or by
those at province levels,, the report said. .
(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2006)