Emergency rescue teams to increase

Medical responders to ensure nation is fully prepared for future threats

China plans to increase the number of national medical emergency response teams from 40 currently to 70 by 2025, a senior health official said on Monday.

Guo Yanhong, director of the National Health Commission's medical emergency response department, said the country is accelerating the establishment of a national emergency medical aid base and will establish a national base for major epidemic disease control, and expand the base for poison treatment.

The country also plans to establish treatment teams for major epidemics and improve the ability to handle critically ill patients during major epidemics, she said at a news conference.

There are 540 medical experts in 22 departments on the 40 national teams and they are all seasoned and authoritative experts in their fields, she said.

Each national team is a mobile hospital and has a complete rescue system. They can offer out-patient and in-patient medical services and can conduct operations and medical examinations, with some even equipped with intensive care units, Guo said.

Guo said apart from national teams, the country has established 6,500 provincial and lower levels of medical emergency response teams.

"In case of major emergencies, we can efficiently send experts from the national teams to conduct medical treatment and also conduct medical consultation online," she said.

With its large population, China is at risk for public health emergencies and is also prone to national disasters, accidents and safety incidents, which all require treatment of the injured, she said.

"We always believe that we need to protect the safety and health of the people at all costs, and when handling such emergencies, people's health is the top priority," she said.

Li Weimin, president of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, said the medical emergency response team at the hospital has been certified by the World Health Organization as the highest level non-military emergency medical team globally.

The team has played an important role during past emergencies. For example, in the earthquake last year in Luding county, Sichuan province, the hospital sent three teams to the quake zone to save patients, he said.

Meanwhile, the hospital has established a team of experts from different departments at the hospital to conduct online consultations for patients in the zone, he said.

The teams have admitted more than 200 patients, including more than 50 in serious and critical condition, and none of the patients died, he added.