Districts get set for health drills

By Cai Wenjun  |   2008-12-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

EACH of Shanghai's 18 districts and Chongming County will carry out a practice drill dealing with a major public health event or medical rescue by the end of the month to help prepare for winter health emergencies, the Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday.

The bureau said the drills would include preventing or responding to a public health event such as the outbreak of a severe infectious disease, perfecting the system used to solve the outbreak of an unknown disease, handling disaster-related injuries and other emergency events requiring medical rescue.

The bureau said the drills were necessary as infectious respiratory diseases such as flu had entered their peak season. The risk of infection of unknown strains of pneumonia or bird flu had also risen, according to a warning from the Ministry of Health.

Cold weather, snowy days and an increase in cases of gas poisoning in winter also added to the pressure on the local health industry, officials said.

The bureau has ordered all hospitals and medical facilities to cooperate with the district-based health authorities to carry out patient treatment, epidemiological research, sample collection and laboratory tests to streamline the drills.

All local hospitals have also been ordered to increase monitoring on patients with fever and infectious diseases and report to the centers for disease control and prevention to quickly identify urgent health events.

The bureau said it would also increase public awareness about the prevention of infectious diseases throughout winter and spring.