Chinese Premier on Importance, Difficulty of SARS Control in Rural Areas

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 07, 2003

Chinese Premier on Importance, Difficulty of SARS Control in Rural Areas

Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday urged increased awareness of the importance and urgency of controlling the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases in China's vast rural areas.

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Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday urged increased awareness of the importance and urgency of controlling the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases in China's vast rural areas.

At a State Council national teleconference which focused on the fight against SARS and on economic work in rural areas, he called for standardized supervision, enhanced guidance and the concrete implementation of related measures to protect remote rural areas from large-scale SARS infection and to ensure good economic growth and social stability in the countryside.

Thanks to joint efforts nationwide under the supervision of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, said Wen, China has made certain achievements in preventing the spread of SARS.

However, he noted, the epidemic situation has yet to be fully controlled, and the country still faces stark challenges in the control of the contagious disease.

SARS prevention in vast rural areas is a key component of the fight against the disease as it is vital to the health of farmers, to rural economic and social development and also to the overall success of the anti-SARS battle.

Wen underlined the importance of implementing nine major measures in rural SARS control efforts, including strengthening leadership, beefing up education and information publicity, improving epidemic monitoring, setting up a rescuing mechanism, stepping up training and offering free SARS treatment for farmers.

Though the fight against SARS is currently an urgent priority for rural areas, Wen added, economic development remains the central task for the countrymen.

The people across China, should, rallying still more closely round the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as its secretary general and implementing the important thought of "Three Represents" in an all-round way, strive to attain an all-round victory in the fight against SARS and bring about rural economic growth by further increasing their confidence and unity and surmounting all difficulties, Premier Wen said.

Vice premier urges speeded infrastructure construction for SARS fight

Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan Tuesday called for accelerated infrastructure construction for the prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China's vast rural areas.

Material support is crucial in the fight against the SARS disease and to guarantee public health, said Zeng at a meeting held shortly after the State Council national teleconference whichwas focused on the fight against SARS and on economic work in rural areas.

The vice-premier requested the establishment of a fund solely for building outpatient departments especially for those patients with fervent fevers and isolation wards in county-level medical institutions and to purchase medical equipment for the control ofthe SARS epidemic in the country's rural areas.

Urban hospitals should take the advantage of medical and technological resources to help especially-built hospitals in rural areas so as to increase their capability to accommodate and treat patients with SARS, he said. Zeng also called for enhanced efforts to raise the quarantine capability, epidemic prevention, anti-epidemic drug production anddisposal of sewage.

Moreover, he urged the building of more isolation wards in ports, the manufacture of more respirators and monitors and the expansion of the stock of contingency medicines.

China will, Zeng noted, work harder still to complete the nationwide prevention and control networks at the provincial, regional and county levels by the end of this year.The relevant governmental departments should work in coordination, define their objectives and speed up the examinationand approval of emergency projects, ensure capital supplies and the quality of anti-SARS projects and equipment.

Guangdong beefs up efforts to prevent SARS spread in rural areas

Governor Huang Huahua of south China's Guangdong Province Tuesday urged local governments at all levels to beef up efforts to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in rural areas.

Huang made the call at a provincial teleconference which came on the heels of a nationwide teleconference held earlier in the day by the State Council, China's cabinet, centered on the anti-SARS battle in the country's vast rural areas and on economic workin the countryside.

At the national teleconference, Premier Wen Jiabao called for increased awareness of the importance and urgency of the fight against SARS in the country's rural areas.

In response, Huang called for the mobilization of local resources in Guangdong for the rural anti-SARS battle, taking full account of the local situation and in accordance with the requirements and spirit of the central government.

As a demonstration of its commitment, Guangdong will dispatch on Wednesday five work teams to supervise rural anti-SARS work in a bid to stem the spread of SARS in the countryside.

Guangdong, the site of the first reported case of SARS, still faces tough challenges in the combat against SARS, especially in its rural areas, said Huang.

Regarding the rural work, Guangdong has adopted five measures which include enhancing leadership, improving the monitoring mechanism, mobilizing grass-roots Party members to help farmers, increasing financial investment, and keeping a close watch on migrant workers, students, nurseries and kindergardens.

As of May 5, Guangdong had reported 33 SARS cases and four deaths in rural areas under the jurisdiction of eight cities.

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