Medical needs of non-coronavirus patients should also be met, official says

While a large part of the medical resources should be devoted to treating patients with the novel coronavirus pneumonia, the daily medical service demands of patients with other diseases should also be guaranteed, an official with the National Health Commission said on Saturday.

The provincial authority in Hubei has been asked to divide the province into high-, medium- and low-risk areas of the outbreak, and have different focus in terms of medical work, said Guo Yanhong, an official with the commission.

For high-risk areas, such as Wuhan city in the province, the prevention and control of the virus and the treatment of COVID-19 patients should be the focus of medical work, she said.

Meanwhile, medical service needs of cancer, uremia and other chronic diseases patients, maternal, child and the elderly as well as emergency patients should also be met, she added.

Hubei province has made public the list of medical institutions that receive patients of other diseases. The province has also designated medical institutions for maternal patients without the virus-related pneumonia, according to Guo.

"The arrangement is to guarantee the medical service demands of patients could be met in an orderly way," she said.

In areas with medium risk, medical authorities need to gradually restore the normal medical services and shift the work focus from outbreak control to daily medical services, while preventing the outbreak and treating the patients of COVID-19, she said.

Guo said in areas with low risk, daily medical services will be fully and rapidly restored to meet the health needs of people.