Lei Haichao appointed as Party secretary of National Health Commission

Lei Haichao, former head of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, has been appointed as Communist Party of China secretary of the National Health Commission, according to the official website of China's top health authority.

Lei, 56, is a native of Shandong province. He graduated from medical colleges in Shandong province and Shanghai and holds a doctoral degree in medicine, according to open information.

He had previously assumed positions at the Beijing's disease control and prevention center and the National Health Commission's department of law and regulation.

He had been head of the Beijing health commission since 2018 and was named vice minister of the National Health Commission in October 2020, responsible for the fields of grassroots healthcare, medical emergency response and food safety standards, risk surveillance and evaluation.

He had led fights against the COVID-19 epidemic in a number of local outbreaks and commented extensively on key healthcare problems, such as reforms for public hospitals and health economics at press conferences.