Xi Jinping vows to build strong public health system to ensure China’s stability
- Chinese president pledges to pour resources into network to enable swift response to disease outbreaks
- But analysts say that this alone will not prevent a recurrence of infections like Sars and Covid-19
It is common practice for the Communist Party leaders to use meetings with experts to highlight policy and political priorities, and the gathering in Beijing has featured on state broadcaster CCTV’s prime time news for three days in a row.
At the meeting, Xi has pledged to pour resources to create a public health network linking central and local governments, disease control and prevention agencies, laboratories, hospitals and grass-roots health institutes, as well as public health schools to ensure quick identification and responses to outbreaks of new infectious diseases. He also ordered better coordination and discipline to plug the technical loopholes.
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“The safety of people is the cornerstone of national security … A disease prevention system is … important to ensure economic and social stability,” state news agency Xinhua reported, summarising Xi’s speech.