SANTIAGO, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday singed a new decree to grant more extraordinary powers to the Health Ministry to fight the A/H1N1 influenza pandemic, local media reported.
The decision came after the health authorities have reported 7,376 confirmed cases of the new virus in the country, including 21 deaths, one of the highest rate in the world.
According the decree, about 33 million U.S. dollars would be granted to cover the treatment costs such as the purchase of anti-viral medicines and the recruitment of temporary staff.
The ministry will coordinate with private health institutions to help patients infected with A/H1N1 flu, in order to give priority to the patients with respiratory diseases and hospitalizations.
The decree also requires the ministry to monitor the distribution and the use of anti-viral drugs to prevent the misuse and illegal commercialization of the medicines.
To meet the staff demand in the public health network, universities are requested to allow medical students to work in the system.
The regional health authorities will have the power to suspend meetings, shows and any kind of events that represent a massive attendance.
The decree also authorized the Aid Networks to coordinate with the hospitals from the Armed Forces.
The private sector must obey the dispositions from the health authorities when their collaboration is requested, such as the transportation of commodities or anti-viral medicines to any region of the country.
Organizations like the Red Cross also must support these tasks.
Chile will also acquire 600,000 new anti-viral treatments, 200,000 of them will be given by the Pan American Health Organization and 400,000 will be bought from labs.
Chile also planed to buy 6.2 million vaccines against A/H1N1 flu next year as a reserve.
Chile currently is facing a pressing situation on public health due to sudden increase of seasonal flu cases and A/H1N1 flu cases.
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