Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits national political advisors from education, medical and health sectors attending a joint group meeting at the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 6, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged efforts to fortify the country's public health protection network and enhance public hospitals' high-quality development, noting that public hospitals are the "pillars" of the nation's fight against COVID-19.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks as he joined a group meeting with national political advisors from the education, medical and health sectors on Saturday.  

An attendee at the meeting reached by the Global Times said that public medical institutions are the quickest to respond to emergencies thanks to their organizational structure, manifested largely in the timely deployment of medical resources when the nation was hit hardest by the epidemic during the initial outbreak.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the ongoing two sessions, where Xi called for the promotion of the high-quality development of public hospitals, which were the "major force" in the hard-won battle against the epidemic. 

"The past experiences in dealing with the epidemic have once again proven a point: China is able to deploy and concentrate resources from different places to accomplish large undertakings," he added. 

Wu Hao, an expert at the National Health Commission's Disease Prevention and Control Advisory Committee and also a deputy attending the meeting, told the Global Times on Sunday that he believed public hospitals were the quickest in response to emergencies thanks to their organizational structure. 

"What's more, with no other concern over conflict of interests, public medical institutes could step up together in joint efforts to confront the epidemic," Wu noted.

The advantages of public medical and health care were largely reflected in the timely deployment of medical resources when the nation was hit hardest by the epidemic during the initial outbreak, the Xinhua News Agency reported earlier in May 2020. 

A total of about 42,000 medical workers rushed to the epicenter of Central China's Hubei Province to assist with anti-epidemic work, which provided sound support for the investigation, treatment, and tracing of close contacts at the time.

Reflecting on the past year, China, out of all the major countries in the world, was one of the first to contain the spread of coronavirus, the first to resume business and production, and the first to realize positive economic growth. 

"It is not just pure luck, but the reflection of confidence in the country's socialist path, theory, system, and culture," Xi said at the joint meeting. 

About one month away from the day when Wuhan lifted its lockdown, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host a special promotional event for Hubei in the warm spring days of April to show the world what the heroic place achieved after its arduous struggle to pull itself out of its darkest days.