Leading medic stresses importance of grassroots health facilities

A leading medical expert participating in the annual session of the country's top political advisory body said it is important to step up the capability of health care at grassroots facilities.

Dr Zhang Wenhong from Huashan Hospital, director of the National Center for Infectious Disease, shared his feeling and comments in an interview during the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

More than 100 Shanghai members of CPPCC are in Beijing for the meeting from Saturday to March 11.

Zhang said Shanghai's top medical experts visited 247 neighborhood health centers in groups since late December to give instruction on health treatment for COVID-19 patients at the grassroots. These have relatively poor health capabilities.

"Grassroots medics have taken great responsibilities for anti-pandemic work and they are the key force in the fight," said Zhang, a member of CPPCC.

To enhance their capability, neighborhood health centers contacted medical experts in leading public hospitals through remote consulting platform. Through the platform, experts guided grassroots medics to improve their treatment of serious patients.

Such practice has achieved good results, as serious patients were able to be gradually stabilized and discharged.

"Improving the capability of neighborhood health centers allows patients to receive timely treatment at the early stage and help build a classified health system, which allows patients to receive treatment in different levels of hospitals in line with their condition," Zhang said.