The 2016 Emergency Medical Teams Global Meeting was held in Hong Kong on Nov 28.

Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Li Bin, minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Dr. Donald K. T. Li, president of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine attended the meeting and delivered speeches.

Li noted that the WHO is pushing forward health emergency reforms and setting up global emergency medical teams to effectively respond to public health emergencies and safeguard human health.

"The Chinese government has been paying great attention to the construction of the health emergency response system, including regulations and plans, coordination mechanisms, information reporting systems, and emergency medical teams training," Li said. 

Li went on to say China now has 37 national emergency medical teams, which play important roles in emergency medical rescue, prevention and control of emergent infectious diseases, response to acute poisoning accidents, and nuclear and radiation emergency responses. The government encourages Chinese emergency medical teams to be registered as international emergency response teams. Shanghai East Hospital's emergency medical team has been authenticated as one of the first batch of international emergency medical teams around world. Li said that China is willing to make its contribution to safeguard global public health safety and push forward the construction of a health emergency response system.

Also taking part in the meeting were 300 officials and representatives from medical institutes and international organizations from more than 50 countries and regions.