In order to cope with new infectious diseases and ensure
financial support from the government, China's 15-year-old law on
infectious disease prevention will be amended.
Executive Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang said that last
year's SARS outbreak exposed many problems in China's current
infectious disease prevention and control system.
"China's ability to supervise and give early outbreak warnings
of an infectious disease is weak. Epidemic reporting is likewise
inefficient. The control of cross-infection is lacking and
contingency measures for the outbreak of contagious diseases are
lagging. All these problems emerged during the efforts to prevent
and control SARS."
With the SARS outbreak, health officials realized the urgency of
amending China's infectious disease prevention laws. A new draft
amendment underscores preventive efforts in every single link of
handling public health emergencies, from reporting and treatment to
the control of infectious diseases.
Under the draft amendment, the country will establish a
monitoring and early warning system to root out factors that might
contribute to the spread of infectious diseases and help
specialists to forecast potential epidemic trends.
It also gives additional responsibilities to medical
institutions in epidemic monitoring and prevention. The content,
procedures and time limit for disease control institutions to
report epidemics are specified in the draft.
The draft also adds SARS and highly pathogenic avian influenza
to the country's statutory contagious disease list. They are both
ranked as Class Two, signifying they are highly communicable.
The vice minister says a lack of funds has weakened local
epidemic prevention and control. The draft amendment includes
clauses to deal with such problems.
"The draft specifies the government's duty to provide funds and
materials once an outbreak occurs. It will play a strong role in
preventing the spread of infectious diseases in the future."
The amendment requires governments at county and higher levels
to take charge of arranging special funds for epidemic disease
prevention and control within their own administrative regions. The
central government should subsidize economically backward
areas.
Gao Qiang also stressed that the draft amendment aims to strike
a balance between the protection of individuals' rights and the
interests of the public in the prevention and control of infectious
diseases.
(CRI April 6, 2004)