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)