East China's commercial hub Shanghai has decided over the weekend to start building a public health emergency system.

The system, with the investment of 98.7 million yuan (US$12.3 million), is mainly composed of three parts: disease control, medical treatment and health supervision, according to the municipal health bureau.

The bureau said the system will be linked with two already existing networks -- one is covering more than 600 hospitals and clinics in the city; the other is covering all the government health departments, disease control centers and health supervision institutions in Shanghai.

The system, with a complete database of the city's medical treatment and disease control, will be completed in 2007.

Experts believe it will play an important role in the prevention and early warning of the public health emergencies like SARS or human bird flu in Shanghai. 

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2006)