China's
ongoing war on the furious attack of the SARS(severe acute
respiratory syndrome) epidemic is a battle without gun
smoke.
The sudden disaster has
subjected China's new central leadership and the masses of
Chinese people to severe tests. Under the firm leadership of
the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the Chinese
people have pulled together in an arduous and tenacious war
on this fatal disease.
The People's Interests Take
First Place At 10 a.m., April
14, CPC Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao came
to the Beijing Road in downtown Guangzhou. His arrival at
the frontline of the battle against SARS greatly inspired
the local residents and enhanced their confidence in the
combat. During his inspection tour in Guangdong, Hu also
visited medical workers at the Guangdong Disease Prevention
and Control Center. He said, "The Party Central
Committee and the State Council are greatly concerned about
the epidemic situation. We are very much worried as the
health and lives of many people face a serious threat. At
the same time, we are relieved to learn that many patients
have recovered, thanks to the arduous and meticulous work of
countless medical workers."
On April 20, General Secretary Hu visited the
Microorganism and Epidemic Research Institute under the
Military Medical Institute and the Beijing Genome Research
Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, extending
his heartfelt gratitude and cordial greetings to the
scientists who had achieved major successes in tackling key
scientific problems related to SARS. He encouraged them to
make persistent efforts to overcome the epidemic by
scientific means. On May 1, Hu went
to Tianjin to inspect the city's epidemic prevention and
control work.
After the outbreak of the
SARS epidemic in Beijing, Premier Wen Jiabao visited the
National Disease Prevention and Control Center, Beijing
You'an Hospital, and some universities, primary and middle
schools, kindergartens, construction sites, supermarkets and
communities to inspect their epidemic precautions, extend
his regards to medical workers and inquire about the health
of teachers and students. He stated, "A responsible
government must always place the interests of the people
first." Later, the
premier inspected the epidemic prevention and control work
in Guangdong, Yunnan and Shanxi.
The CPC Central Committee and the State
Council, attaching great importance to the SARS epidemic,
have convened special meetings on many occasions and put
forth a series of counter-measures.
On April 17, the Political Bureau of
the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to listen to
relevant departments' reports on the epidemic prevention and
control work and make further studies and arrangements for
improving the work. Attendants stressed that doing a good
job in preventing and controlling the epidemic concerns the
health and lives of numerous people, and also the country's
overall situation of reform, development and
stability.
Immediately after it assumed
office, the new government dedicated itself to prevention
and control of the SARS epidemic. In less than a month, it
held four executive meetings, with three specializing on the
epidemic prevention and control work. Decisions were made to
include SARS in the list of officially designated infectious
diseases that are subject to government management in
accordance with the law, to keep the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the general public informed about the
epidemic situation every day, and to establish a mechanism
to cope with sudden public health problems. The executive
meeting held by the State Council on April 23 decided to
establish the State Council SARS Prevention and Control
Headquarters, and to allocate 2 billion yuan from the state
treasury for the prevention and control of SARS. A series of
measures have been taken to combat the epidemic, from
organizational leadership and work mechanism to epidemic
prevention and treatment methods and publicity.
The Party Central Committee
and the State Council have paid close attention to the
epidemic situation, calling on relevant departments to take
a responsible attitude toward the people and timely
discover, report and release information about the epidemic
situation. Leaders responsible for delaying or failing to
report or covering up facts will be held to account. Given
the problems that had occurred previously in the epidemic
prevention and control work, the central authorities firmly
removed the minister of health and the mayor of Beijing from
their leading posts, and sent epidemic inspection teams to
some localities.
Lining Up Defense Against
SARS
Facing the spread of the SARS epidemic, Party
committees and governments at all levels have further
defined their responsibilities, established a scientific
precaution system, and adopted active and effective measures
to prevent and control the epidemic.
Shanghai acted promptly by setting up a
mechanism to deal with sudden public health problems,
relying on the city's disease prevention and control center
and third-grade medicare and disease prevention networks. In
addition, it has worked out plans to prevent and control the
SARS epidemic, specified emergency plans for preventing and
controlling the epidemic among special groups of people,
published a guidebook on SARS prevention and control, and
developed appropriate diagnostic and treatment measures. The
city has also intensified the training of medical workers,
and established two consultant groups composed of 20
molecular virus specialists and 10 famous doctors of
traditional Chinese medicine. Special laboratories operating
round the clock have been set up.
During the critical fight against SARS, Beijing
established an intensive epidemic situation monitoring
system, a smooth information gathering system and a strict
epidemic prevention and control system. The municipal
anti-SARS task force collects epidemic-monitoring reports
from all urban districts and suburban counties at all times.
Epidemic specialists sort out information gathered from
various channels promptly. A total of 16 hospitals have been
designated as special hospitals to treat SARS patients.
Various hospitals have intensified consultation of doctors
and pulled efforts to rescue critically ill patients. Some
districts and counties have established medical institutions
to isolate and observe people who have had close contact
with SARS patients. On April 28,
after seven days of hard work, the 1,000-bed Beijing
Xiaotangshan Hospital for SARS patients was completed. By
May 5, all the 1,200 medical workers sent by the army had
arrived at their posts in three groups.
The focus of SARS precaution has been laid on
universities, primary and middle schools, kindergartens,
public traffic facilities, shops and other public places
attracting large crowds Of people. In an emergency circular,
the Ministry of Education called on all institutions of
higher education to enhance the awareness of epidemic
precaution and self-protection among teachers and students,
regularly disinfect students' dormitories, canteens,
classrooms, libraries and laboratories, and ensure good
ventilation of these places. Each student is provided with a
thermometer, and those who are found to have a high fever
will be kept under close observation. The Civil Aviation
Administration of China issued a circular, requiring all
passengers to fill out a detailed health form before
boarding. Passengers suspected of having contracted SARS
will be persuaded to stop traveling. Railway and transport
and communication sectors have also adopted emergency
measures to isolate SARS patients and those who are
suspected of having contracted the disease.
Guangdong Province, where the first
SARS case was identified, has launched a campaign to
publicize the methods to ward off SARS, together with a
public fitness campaign and a patriotic health campaign.
More than 8,000 citizens have been mobilized to clean their
houses, streets, open public facilities and all formerly
neglected spots. The effort has ushered in an upsurge of the
epidemic prevention and control work.
Braving the Deadly
Disease "Doctors
combating the epidemic are like soldiers going to war, and
good soldiers are always in the vanguard," said a
doctor's wife when commenting on her husband's work.
During this smokeless battle, Chinese
medical workers, who are ready to give their lives in times
of danger, have demonstrated their exceptional courage and
fine professional ethics. They have added a stirring chapter
to the annals of "healing the wounded and rescuing the
dying".
People will remember these
selfless and dauntless medical workers forever.
"It's too dangerous, let me do
it." These words became the pet phase of Ye Xin, head
nurse with the Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, when nursing SARS patients. She later contracted
the disease and died at her post. But, no sooner had she
fallen, than numerous other medical workers threw themselves
into the breach. As SARS is new to
China and the world at large, there is no experience in
prevention and treatment to refer to. The Second Medical
College attached to the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou
has established an expert group to combat SARS. Prof. Chen
Weixian, a member of the group, put forward the bold idea of
dividing patients into three groups and treating them with
different methods--a way to compare the results of different
treatment approaches and find out the most effective method.
The experience helped produce an ideal method of treatment
and, later, standards for treatment and management.
Based on the concerted efforts of
numerous medical workers in tackling key problems, Chinese
medical specialists have put forward the principle of
"early discovery, early diagnosis, early isolation and
early treatment" to prevent and control the SARS
epidemic, and developed a set of appropriate methods of
treatment. As a result, many critically ill patients have
recovered and been discharged from hospital. The cure rate
of Guangdong Province has reached 85 percent.
WHO experts commented that China has
accumulated many valuable experiences in preventing and
controlling SARS and found out a set of effective methods to
control the epidemic and treat patients, which other
countries may refer to.
Using Science to Defeat
SARS "Speed is
everything," wrote Dr. Wang Jian with the Beijing
Genome Research Institute in his diary. His words have
expressed the conviction of all his colleagues.
After the outbreak of SARS, Chinese
scientists acted promptly in response to the
counter-measures adopted by the central authorities as well
as the needs of the patients and the general public. With a
high sense of responsibility and a rigorous scientific
approach, they have worked day and night to tackle key
problems and achieved major results.
On April 12, the Guangzhou team engaged in the
study of pneumonia epidemiology, pathology and clinic
treatment isolated the coronavirus from two samples taken
from SARS patients, showing that a mutation of the
coronavirus might be the cause of SARS.
On April 14, the Ministry of Health and the
Ministry of Science and Technology allocated 10 million yuan
to the science and technology emergency act for prevention
and control of SARS. On April 16, the
Molecular Epidemic Research Institute under the Military
Medical Institute and the Beijing Genome Research Institute
under the Chinese Academy of Sciences succeeded in
sequencing the coronavirus gene.
On April 17, the Medical and Bioengineering
Technology Research Center under the Ministry of Health
reported that together with the Guangzhou Disease Prevention
and Control Center it had succeeded in developing the PCR
technology for fast testing of the coronavirus.
On April 19, the Military Medical
Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a
new technology that helps quickly diagnose the SARS virus in
one hour...
Prof. Yang Huanming, head of
the Beijing Genome Research Institute, said that the
completion of coronavirus gene sequencing and the
development of the PCR testing technology in such a short
period of time should be attributed to the
cross-disciplinary and inter-departmental coordination and
the selfless dedication of scientists involved in these
projects.
The SARS epidemic is
ferocious. However, mankind has never given up the endeavor
to fight against disease. We believe every new scientific
discovery will move mankind a step further from the realm of
necessity to the realm of freedom. Mankind is bound to
overcome SARS and eventually win the war on it.
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