Zhang Boli, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), suggested measures to enhance China's public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities based on its experience in fighting COVID-19.

Zhang Boli, a deputy to the 13th NPC and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. [Photo courtesy of Zhang Boli]

Zhang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said a comprehensive public health emergency response system needs to be established, involving all sectors of society and defining clear-cut standards for different levels of response.

Progress is already underway in this regard, exemplified by the formulation and revision of related laws, Zhang said in a recent interview with China.org.cn.

This year, China's top legislature is expected to formulate a law on responding to public health emergencies, and lawmakers will deliberate revisions to the law on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, according to a press conference held by the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee last December.

Zhang emphasized the importance of improving community health. "The COVID-19 outbreak in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, exposed villages as a weak point in our preparedness for public health emergencies," he said. "More efforts are needed to strengthen training for health care workers and upgrade medical infrastructure in communities and villages."

Meanwhile, some anti-COVID practices undertaken in rural areas during the outbreak are recommended for community-level public health emergency preparedness in the future, Zhang said. "For example, villagers scattered in different places were transferred by negative pressure ambulances to centralized quarantine facilities for more effective disease control."

Zhang, president of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also advised the incorporation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into the public health emergency preparedness system.

"Combining TCM and Western medicine, and taking quick action" is key to raising the cure rate, lowering the fatality rate, and preventing cases with mild symptoms from worsening when controlling infectious diseases, he said.

"When facing a new infectious disease without a vaccine or specific medicine, we must not sit idly. Rather, we need to make early medical interventions, and TCM can play an important role," Zhang explained.

Zhang presided over the research of the COVID-19 treatment scheme combining TCM and Western medicine. The TCM expert won the national honorary title, "the People's Hero," for his contribution to China's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.