Any emergency threatening public security will be responded to as soon as possible during the Olympic Games since Beijing just went through an excellent rehearsal during the Sichuan earthquake relief work.
"We formed eight medical teams consisting of 590 members within two hours after the quake and the first team of 53 left for Sichuan the next morning,"said Chen Jing, Deputy Chief of Medical Services Division of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau at a press conference organized by BOCOG on Wednesday.
A massive earthquake of 8.0-magnitude struck Southwest China's Sichuan Province May 12 and until Wednesday afternoon, 67,183 died from the natural disaster.
The deputy chief added they couldn't have made such a quick response without having done extensive emergency training for the Olympics. She said the medical teams also brought with them 73 ambulances and various medical relief goods.
Other possible emergencies including epidemics and bioterrorism attacks have also been taken into account as the Olympics is only 70-plus days away.
Specifically for the Olympic Games there will be:
| First-aid stations |
156 |
| First aid personnel |
803 |
| Medical workers |
1,794 |
| Ambulances |
191 |
Beijing has also drawn from its experiences from SARS that hit the city in 2003 and set up a public health emergency headquarter.
"We have been monitoring and preventing the outbreak of anthrax since the anthrax attack of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. We are also working on the development of the anthrax antibodies and vaccines," explained Jin Dapeng, head of the Medical Support Group of BOCOG.
Beijing won the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games in July of 2001.
President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge said after the 2004 Athens Olympic Games that professional medical service has became one of the key tasks of a highly successful Olympic Games. And for BOCOG, that is the aim of the Beijing Games.
Jin said the Olympic medical support group is prepared for any possible emergency, caused by either nature or man-made.
