China Creates SARS Task Force, Special Fund

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 24, 2003

China Creates SARS Task Force, Special Fund

Chinese provinces with SARS patients are working hard to control and prevent the spread of the epidemic, while central government authorities created a task force and and a national fund of US$243mn for prevention and control of the disease.

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China decided Wednesday to create a national task force to combat SARS, and a national fund of two billion yuan (243 million US dollars) for prevention and control of the disease.

The moves were taken by the State Council at its executive meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.

The central government decided to set up the task force, known as the SARS Control and Prevention Headquarters of the State Council, to coordinate national efforts to combat the disease.

Vice-Premier Wu Yi was appointed as commander-in-chief, and Hua Jianmin, State Councilor and secretary general of the State Council, as deputy commander-in-chief.

The State Council also decided to create a SARS Control and Prevention Fund with two billion yuan in funding from the central government.

The fund will be used to finance the treatment of farmers and poor urban residents infected with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and to upgrade county-level hospitals and purchase SARS-related medical facilities in central and western China, and for research programs on the virus.

To upgrade disease control institutions in the central and western regions, the Chinese government will allocate another 900 million yuan (109 million US dollars).

The central government also allocated 600 million yuan (73 million US dollars) for the initial phase of the China Center of Disease Control and Prevention.

The government stressed the significance of SARS control in areas like Beijing and rural areas.

It urged localities and government departments at all levels to curb the spread of the epidemic and ensure supplies of pharmaceutical products and control their prices.

China Steps us Efforts to Contain SARS

Chinese provinces with SARS patients are working hard to control and prevent the spread of the epidemic, while central government authorities created a task force Wednesday to oversee the national fight against the virus.

On Wednesday, Liu Zhenhua, governor of Shanxi province, told a provincial meeting that Vice-Governor of Shanxi province Wang Xin has been granted special decision-making powers and discretionary rights to use financial resources in the fight against the virus.

The move will enable the province to respond quickly to developments related to the virus, said the governor.

Pharmaceutical products, medical facilities and protective medical products purchased from around the Chinese mainland have been delivered to hospitals.

Tian Chengping, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, has called on leading officials at provincial and prefectural levels to give top priority to the control and prevention of the virus given that the province ranks third in the number of SARS victims.

In north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Lian Ji, vice-chairman of the regional government, called on all sectors of society to express their love to SARS patients and their family members in order to boost their morale.

Officials have called on medical workers and others to show greater understanding and compassion for SARS patients, who, isolated and depressed, tend to lose their tempers with medical workers.

In Fujian province, east China, the provincial government has allocated 5 million yuan (about 600,000 US dollars) in special funding for the purchase of artificial respirators and other medical equipment for 19 hospitals designated to provide medical services for SARS patients.

The first batch of 46 vehicles, specifically purchased for the transport of SARS patients, has been delivered to 46 counties or districts in Fujian, and transportation departments and companies have disinfected public transportation systems.

In southwest China's Yunnan province, the provincial government has allocated about 3 million yuan in special funding for SARS control and prevention programs.

With no confirmed SARS cases, Yunnan has formulated emergency plans for potential SARS cases, and local hospitals and other medical institutions have been ordered to report every confirmed or suspected case to the relevant governmental department.

Beijing, the capital, is offering financial support and preventive aids to thousands of its disadvantaged residents as part of its most recent efforts to control and prevent SARS.

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