Chinese Ministry of Health has asked medical institutions to offer preliminary check-ups on contagious diseases and to treat patients suspicious of these diseases in separate venues, according to a notice released by the ministry.

Health authorities say the move is intended preventing medical institutions from becoming the hotbeds for virus spread.

Doctors in hospitals and clinics should give their patients a check-up on contagious diseases before any further treatment, saysthe notice released recently.

Patients who are believed to be infected must be transferred toparticular venues immediately and the departments that first received them should be disinfected, it says.

In periods of crisis, institutions should set up a booth for preliminary check-ups and only allow patients to enter the main hospital after being confirmed to be free from contagious diseases,the notice says.

In cases of respiratory diseases, check-ups should also be given to people who accompany the patients to the hospital or anyone in close contact with them, it says.

China promulgated a law on preventing contagious diseases in the summer of 2004, a year after the disastrous SARS outbreak.

Source: Xinhua