A joint working group from China's Ministry of Health (MOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) began an inspection tour Monday of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) control in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Headed by Yang Qing, vice director of the MOH's department for hygiene in grass-roots units and for maternal and child care, the 10-member team listened to a report on the regional SARS control given by regional health department head Gao Feng.
The team also visited the Disease Prevention and Control Center (DPCC) of Guangxi, the DPCC of the capital city Nanning and three hospitals.
Inspecting the DPCC of Guangxi, Yang Qing praised the region's medical facilities for their high vigilance against SARS at an early stage.
According to the center, medical facilities in Guangxi have treated early SARS cases as a highly infectious disease since the beginning of this year, even though they knew little about it at that time. The high vigilance has avoided the spread of SARS in the region.
During their visits, experts of the team also inquired about the epidemic reporting mechanism, the work process at fever clinics, and SARS prevention and medical workers' self-protection measures at hospitals.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2003)
