Xi urges protection, care for medical workers

President Xi Jinping has called for great attention to the protection and care for medical workers to make sure they are healthy and stay focused on winning the battle against the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Chinese President Xi Jinping checks the treatment of hospitalized patients at the monitoring center and talks to medical staff on duty via a video link at Beijing Ditan Hospital in Beijing, capital of China, on Feb. 10, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a recent instruction on protecting the medical workers participating in the COVID-19 prevention and control.

Noting that medical workers are the backbone force in defeating the epidemic, Xi stressed providing comprehensive support for them to ensure their strength, morale and energy.

Xi emphasized the need to strengthen efforts to relieve the stress of medical workers, provide them with daily necessities, arrange time for their rest and give them encouragement.

Xi also stressed efforts to ensure that medical teams in Hubei and Wuhan can carry out their work in a safe, orderly, coordinated, effective and swift manner.

Particular concern

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the medical workers have worked day and night on the frontline. Some were infected or even sacrificed their lives while saving lives.

Xi is particularly concerned about their wellbeing.

He has held multiple meetings, delivered important speeches and made instructions to express the CPC Central Committee's care for medical workers battling the epidemic at the frontline, especially in Hubei and Wuhan.

On Jan. 25, the first day of the lunar New Year, Xi expressed sincere gratitude to the medical workers at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the epidemic prevention and control work.

On Feb. 5, Xi called for a severe crackdown on violence against medical workers, at a meeting of the Commission for Overall Law-based Governance of the CPC Central Committee.

On Feb. 10, Xi extended regards to medical personnel during his inspection of the epidemic prevention and control work in Beijing, making arrangements to address their difficulties and problems. He talked to doctors in Wuhan via a video-link and spoke at length about the protection and care for medical workers during the inspection.

Since the outbreak, more than 30,000 medical workers, including military medics, have been sent from across the country to Hubei and Wuhan to fight the epidemic.

Xi said these medical workers embody the great revolutionary spirit of forging ahead without fear of difficulties.

The medical workers, racing against time to fight the virus, have shown a keen sense of responsibility to the Party and the people, he added.

On Feb. 14, at a meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform, Xi again called for strengthening the building of public health teams and improving the mechanisms for the training, employment, benefits, performance evaluation and incentives for medical practitioners.