Guangdong Province in south China has set up an expert emergency committee in its latest move to fight possible emergency public health crisis, such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and bird flu in this winter and next spring.

The committee consists of 123 experts and scholars from 28 medical institutions and hospitals at the provincial level, hospitals and health institutions based in the cities of Guangzhouand Shenzhen and military hospitals.

The committee has nine expert panels in charge of dealing with infectious and unidentified diseases, medical treatment, food poisoning, professional poisoning, nuclear accident and radiation, fire biological and chemical threats, health education and psychological consoling, and information collection, respectively.

Zhong Nanshan, advisor of the committee, called on people of various social circles to be vigilant, saying there is the possibility that SARS may return this winter and spring.

Huang Fei, deputy head of the Guangdong Provincial Health Bureau, said that the province has made more than 110 emergency plans against possible public health crisis.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2004)