Plans on public health emergencies issued
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-27 08:45

The State Council, or the China's cabinet, has published the emergency plans against four kinds of public health accidents in a bid to decrease the impact on the public to the minimum.

The four emergency plans include one on public health accidents, one on medical and health aid during the accidents, one on major sudden animal epidemics and one on major food safety accidents.

According to a document by the State Council, one plan provides guidelines for the handling of sudden major infectious diseases, unidentified group diseases, major food or occupational poisonings that may render grave health harm to the public.

China will set up a unified national monitoring and emergent response network for early detecting public health accidents, said the document.

The emergencies will be handled by the governments of different levels according to the degree of their seriousness, it said.

A second emergency plan was issued on the medical and health aid for the affected during sudden public accidents which serves to reduce the impact on the people to the minimum.

The plan will offer guidelines for handling the medical and health aid for the casualties and health harm problems that appear during sudden public accidents.

The health authorities at different levels should set up leading groups to that effect which can jump to organize field medical and health aid on receiving related reports, according to the rules stipulated by the plan.

The third emergency plan will handle sudden major animal epidemics that may result in serious loss in stock-raising and cause grave health harm to the public.

According to the plan, the country will set up a monitoring and reporting network for the epidemics and the vet authorities at different levels should analyze the information collected by the network and make warnings in time.

The Ministry of Agriculture will be responsible for the organizing and coordinating of the emergency handling of sudden nationwide animal epidemics, it said.

The fourth plan is designed on the handling of major food safety accidents that may cause diseases or deaths or lead to grave potential dangers to the public health.

All the major dieteticly caused diseases which appear at such links as planting, breeding, processing, packaging, storing, transportation, circulation and consumption, according to the plan, will be under strict supervision.

The government will set up a nationwide unified monitoring and reporting system and a nationwide unified report phone number to respond to such accidents, said the plan.

When major food accidents take place, emergency measures will be organized by the national emergency headquarters or by the ones at province levels, it said.