Experts call for improved grassroots facilities

Tiered system

"A tiered healthcare system should be set up to give basic providers, such as community health centers, a more important role in disease prevention, control and treatment," he said.

A crucial step in the process is to improve the career prospects of general practitioners at grassroots medical facilities to attract sufficient qualified talent, who will serve as an effective guard for public health, he added.

Huang, from Henan Provincial People's Hospital, said a national-level government department should be established to deal exclusively with basic health services nationwide and prevent the marginalization of the basic health program within the overall healthcare system.

The department should be empowered to supervise the basic health system nationwide, including local CDCs and health centers, he said.

That would allow the CDCs and health centers to tackle duties such as disease control and prevention, management of chronic diseases, routine monitoring of food safety and environmental health, and also work with hospitals for epidemic control during outbreaks of major infectious diseases, he added.

National political advisers have also called for improvements to the emergency response system for major crises, including the establishment of a number of national centers for emergency medicine and reserves.

Zhu Tongyu, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and director of the Shanghai Public Health Center, urged the construction of about 10 emergency medical centers in cities with populations of more than 10 million.

Each center could serve as a major hospital, with between 1,000 and 2,000 beds, but could quickly be transformed into a designated treatment center with 5,000 beds for major health emergencies, he said.

"Such hospitals could accommodate large numbers of patients quickly in the event of a major outbreak, so other hospitals would have time to increase the number of beds, thus reducing fatalities to the minimum," Zhu said.

Such centers should be well-equipped and have strong capabilities to treat patients and conduct scientific research, including supporting the development of vaccines and drugs, he said.

During the initial period of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, the city's hospitals were overwhelmed by the rapidly rising number of patients and a severe shortage of beds.

Many patients were obliged to self-isolate at home, posing a risk to themselves and others.

In response, authorities built a number of temporary hospitals, including transforming major sports stadiums and exhibition halls into makeshift facilities that could receive all patients who needed treatment.

Better preparation

Zhu said that while these measures played an important role in epidemic control, it is essential to provide purpose-built emergency medical centers to allow better preparation.

That's because China still faces severe challenges from major outbreaks of both well-known diseases, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS, and new illnesses.

Li Yanping, a deputy to the NPC and vice-president of the Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, said TCM played an important role in treating COVID-19 patients, which means more importance should be given to TCM in future prevention and control strategies.

For example, regular fever clinics and wards equipped with proper emergency rescue equipment could be established at all county-level TCM hospitals, so they could be transformed into facilities to receive patients with infectious diseases.

Meanwhile, authorities should provide more support for research into the role of TCM in fighting infectious diseases, she said.