Beijing plans to build a large-scale infectious disease hospital for daily use and emergencies, executive vice-director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Health Han Demin said Tuesday.

Han emphasized that the hospital will be "appropriate" in scale and location but did not give further details.

He made the remarks Tuesday during the second session of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, which opened Monday.

He said the municipal government has not agreed on a final layout yet.

Beijing established the temporary Xiaotangshan Hospital in north Beijing last April to treat SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) patients. At the time, there were not enough infectious disease hospitals.

He also called for legislation covering public health construction.

Congress deputies touched on other topics as well.

They urged for better law enforcement over food safety issues, a crucial factor in recent years.

"Food safety should not only be supervised by health authorities, but joint forces together with other departments such as agriculture, industry and commerce," Lu Xiaolin, a deputy from Beijing's Haidian District said Tuesday.

She further said that free markets for vegetables, fruits and agricultural products should strengthen access of the goods as more food safety problems exist there than in department stores and supermarkets.

Xu Qunyuan, a congress deputy from Fengtai District, pointed out that the government cannot shoulder all the work.

"People engaged in the whole procedure of food production and sales should be involved in industry associations."

"Thus associations should have the responsibility to supervise the industry insiders," Xu said.

Construction of grass-roots public health systems also topped the agenda of Tuesday's seminar.

"Public health should be supported by grass-roots health stations in residential communities, but not only the municipal health department," Liu Huiqin, a deputy from suburban Changping District said.

Liu Ying, a congress deputy and director of the Beijing Hui Minority Hospital said Tuesday that many residential community hospitals are plagued by high fees.

"For example, the quality supervision authorities began to collect 70 yuan (US$8.5) per year for a blood pressure meter for a quality examination, but in fact the price of such equipment is only 98 yuan (US$12)," she said.

(China Daily February 18, 2004)