China steps up infectious disease training for medical professionals

China's Ministry of Health is to train all medical professionals on prevention and control of key infectious diseases, including bird flu.

All medical institutes in China are instructed to begin the training immediately and complete it by the end of November, said the ministry in a circular on Thursday.

The training includes awareness of Chinese laws and regulations concerning infectious disease control, public health emergencies, the reporting network and management of hospital-originated infections.

All the medical professionals must be aware of key infectious diseases, including bird flu, SARS, bubonic plague, pneumonia with unknown causes and major endemic diseases.

Medical professionals are required to grasp the basic knowledge of the diseases, diagnosis standards, therapies, reporting procedures and disinfection and quarantine methods.

Recent outbreaks of bird flu have put the nation on alert again for the potentially deadly disease.

In the past fortnight, China reported two new outbreaks of bird flu in poultry, which killed 2,000 domestic fowls in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Yin Chengjie, Vice Minister of Agriculture, has warned that autumn and winter were critical periods, and officials should be aware of the dangers and not underestimate the difficulty of controlling the bird flu virus.

Beijing has reinstated daily reporting of bird flu monitoring results in a bid to prevent possible outbreaks.

China has reported 21 human infections of bird flu since 2003, including 14 deaths.

The government is preparing 23 million to 25 million doses of flu vaccine this year, 20 percent more than last year.

The Health Ministry last month required doctors and grass-roots health organizations to report infectious diseases within two hours of detection, including SARS, poliomyelitis and bird flu.

Source: Xinhua