China to improve medical services offered to the quarantined and special cases

China will enhance monitoring and offer services to people with special medical needs who are under quarantine, Li Bin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission, said on Friday.

Upholding quarantine measures while ensuring the public's regular access to medical services has always been a key concern for the commission, Li said at a news conference.

To tackle this challenge, the commission has urged local hospitals to establish a buffer zone that allows severely ill patients to have access to emergency care, surgery and hospital wards, despite not having a definitive result on their COVID-19 nucleic acid tests.

No medical staffs or facilities can use excuses of any form to reject or delay providing medical treatments to these patients, he added.

Secondly, local authorities should keep track of the number and needs of special demographics including patients who need dialysis or radiation therapy, as well as pregnant women and newborns, so that local health workers can promptly provide medical services if needed, he said.

For people under quarantine, there will be an interdepartmental mechanism that allows the residents to call for emergency care and receive proper treatment. A team of experts should be available to provide long distance consultation and diagnosis.

If a patient requires transfer to a hospital setting, there will be dedicated staff to carry out a secured, point-to-point transit of the patient between the quarantine area and the hospital.

Moreover, hospitals should establish an emergency protocol in case a visiting patient tests positive for COVID-19. This way, relevant authorities will be promptly informed of the situation and handle it properly.

Hospitals should not shut down completely once a case is detected; instead, the emergency quarantine protocol should play its role and allow emergency care, surgery rooms and other important medical infrastructures to operate normally, he said.

These measures will ensure severely ill patients will promptly receive their treatments, and reduce epidemic's impact on the normal functioning of medical facilities, he added.