City solicits opinions on public health emergency rules

The city’s health commission has published draft regulations on public health emergencies to solicit public opinions, in a bid to further enhance its public health response system and better cope with public health emergencies in the future, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

According to the draft rules, citizens and organizations are encouraged to report hidden dangers related to public health emergencies through the public health hotline and other means, and report unsafe behaviors of delayed reporting, false reporting, concealing and giving false information related to public health emergencies.

Relevant departments are obliged to protect the personal information and security of whistleblowers, and only units and individuals who have made malicious or false reports will be held liable by law.

The municipal health department is also obliged to set up a public health hotline that is managed by the municipal disease prevention and control agency, and to investigate and verify the situation being reported, as per the draft regulations.

Shenzhen will form a professional monitoring network for public health emergencies, which is composed of medical institutions, pathogenic microorganism laboratories, schools, and other key public places such as checkpoints, airports, railway stations, long-distance bus stations, ports, retail pharmacies and wholesale markets.

The staff of the network’s units shall report relevant information through the network within two hours, if they find that there may be public health emergencies.

In case of a public health emergency, the municipal and district-level centers for disease control and prevention are responsible for organizing, monitoring, investigation, analysis and evaluation of the situation, and submitting a written report within two hours to higher authorities.

The city’s health commission as well as market regulator, after receiving the report, shall verify the nature and category of the public health emergency, adopt necessary control measures, report to the city government and higher authorities as soon as possible, and submit a written report within two hours if an emergency is confirmed.

The city government, upon receiving the report, shall make a decision on whether to initiate a public health emergency response within 24 hours, said the draft regulations.

The city government is advised to improve the information release system of public health emergencies, and release relevant information in a comprehensive, prompt and accurate manner.