Central ministries respond to issues of HIV, industry

Central government ministries and departments responded to public concerns in a series of areas, such as the HIV infection incident in Zhejiang and the development of industry and information technology.

HIV infection

The National Health and Family Planning Commission said that it has paid a great deal of attention to an accident concerning HIV infection in Zhejiang province. The provincial health authorities received a report from the Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a Grade Three Class A hospital, on Jan 26 that a hospital technician violated standard operating procedures that may have led to the possibility of five patients contracting HIV. After being informed of the accident, the national health commission said that Li Bin, the minister, ordered local authorities to investigate the case, take contingency preventive measures and strictly punish relevant personnel responsible for the accident in accordance with relevant laws.

On Feb 3 and 12, Li convened special meetings, pointing out that medical safety concerns public life and health and any negligence is intolerable. She said the authorities must attach great importance to the accident and guidance should be provided for the local health department to try to reduce any harm from the accident. She also said the internal management of the country's medical institutions must be strengthened to ensure hospital staff strictly abide by operational procedures.

On Jan 31 and Feb 7, Wang Guoqiang, deputy head of the commission, led a team to Zhejiang to investigate the accident and provide guidance in tackling the aftermath. The commission said it will send a team to investigate the case again.

The commission said it had organized two expert panels to discuss the causes of the accident on Feb 4 and Feb 10. Participants at the discussions said that the main causes include lack of medical safety awareness by some staff, porous management procedures for infection prevention and control, the ineffective implementation of relevant rules and a failure to abide by technical rules and standard operational procedures. They said the responsibility awareness of medical institutions must be strengthened, their management improved, potential medical safety risks examined, and education of hospital staff strengthened to ensure the rights of patents are protected.

The commission sent a circular to all hospitals nationwide requiring that they further strengthen medical safety management and convened a meeting of all local hospital and health commission heads to demand that they learn the lessons of the Zhejiang accident. The local health management authorities, in particular, should strengthen supervision to ensure medical safety.

Industry growth

Senior Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officials held a news conference on Friday to share information on China's industrial development with the public.

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said much headway has been made as China has become the world's top manufacturer and internet power. He said breakthroughs had been made in manufacturing high-end equipment and Chinese enterprises have become globally competitive in areas such as high-speed rail, nuclear power plants and telecommunications. As a sign of China's progress in economic restructuring, emerging industries, such as robotics, mobile internet, cloud computing and big data, have achieved fast growth, he said.

China has set a target of 6 percent growth year-on-year in terms of industrial output and Miao said the target is achievable.

Miao also said that the ministry will join hands with the Ministry of Finance to adjust the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles to prevent false application for subsidies and support the healthy development of the new industry.

Xu Lejiang, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said at the news conference that the ministry will make greater efforts to reduce excessive production capacity in the steel industry.

"The roles of the market and government will be combined in cutting excessive capacity," Xu said.