Xi calls for strong public health system

Medical, legislative and administrative experts make key recommendations

President Xi Jinping urged on Tuesday the building of a strong public health system and improving the nation's capacity for disease prevention and treatment to better protect the people's health.

The people's safety is the cornerstone of national security, and measures must be taken to prevent major risks in health areas, Xi said while presiding over a symposium attended by experts on fighting the novel coronavirus at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Seven experts in medicine, legislation and public administration, including renowned respiratory specialist and academician Zhong Nanshan, delivered speeches on such topics as improving the national disease prevention system, raising the capabilities of medical treatment and improving the legislative handling of public health. Xi talked with every expert and instructed related departments to resolve the problems they raised.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, expressed sincere gratitude on behalf of the CPC Central Committee to the experts for their great contributions in the fight against COVID-19.

In his speech, Xi said that in facing the novel coronavirus outbreak, the CPC Central Committee has made the people's lives and health its top priority and taken the strictest disease prevention measures.

China achieved great strategic outcomes in the fight against the disease, and the achievements demonstrated the outstanding advantages of the CPC's leadership and China's socialist system, he said.