There are four medical stations in the Bird's Nest and first-aid workers will be deployed all over the stadium. Each medical station will be equipped with one to two ambulances that can handle medical emergencies. Medical teams will be staffed with medical workers from a dozen institutions, including Beijing Emergency Medical Center and Beijing Union Medical College Hospital.

"Overall, 3,223 medical workers will be stationed in Olympic venues. They have been selected from 160,000 candidates in Beijing," said Jin Dapeng, an official with the Beijing Health Bureau. A total of 156 first-aid stations have been set up in Olympic venues, staffed with 1,794 medical workers and equipped with 191 ambulances armed with first-class devices. The Olympic Village has a comprehensive clinic, where 626 specially trained medical workers are ready to provide a wide spectrum of services to athletes.

The medical workers will be able to communicate with patients in Chinese and English at the very least and will be well versed in the customs and lifestyles of various countries.

The International Medical Department of China-Japan Friendship Hospital has regular staff members who are proficient in English, Japanese, French and German. Volunteers proficient in other languages have also been recruited.

The hospital has hosted numerous training sessions on Olympic knowledge and etiquette, medical technology and foreign languages. A model Olympic ward was set up where doctors and nurses carry out Olympic drills. Medical workers have also been sent to other countries such as Japan to study advanced practices.

In addition to the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing has more than 20 top-notch hospitals that meet Olympic standards. Beijing Union Medical College Hospital is designated to serve officials administering the Olympics, and Anzhen Hospital will serve reporters. Other hospitals will primarily dispatch staff and equipment to the Olympic Village and venues and will not treat athletes unless they are severely injured. The Olympic Games will not affect the normal medical services provided to Beijing residents, explained officials from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

A social mobilization backup system and inter-provincial interactive blood coordination system have been set up. "Blood of rare types has also been stockpiled. The blood bank has an inventory of 16,000 bags of Rh-positive blood and 800 bags of Rh-negative blood. Each bag contains 200 ml of blood," Jin disclosed.

"Controlling food contamination will be a focus of public health management during the Olympic Games," expressed Zhao Tao, Director of the Disease Control Office of the Beijing Health Bureau. Beijing Municipal Government has done significant work in monitoring and ensuring food safety. Since 2006, Beijing has performed risk evaluations on a number of common national diseases, including flu and measles, as well as contagious diseases that might be imported to China.

"Two years ago, Beijing launched an endeavor to control potentially disease-carrying pests such as mosquitoes, flies, mice and cockroaches," said Liu Zejun, Director of Beijing Patriotic Health Committee. "The committee has prepared a pest control plan, technical guide, risk evaluation and treating methods."

On May 28, BOCOG unveiled its goals for public health and emergency responses. During the Games, the municipal government is to prevent outbreaks of severe contagious diseases in a timely and effective manner, keep new contagious diseases from being imported into Beijing, prevent serious food poisoning or water contamination, respond to public health or terror incidents, and provide timely, effective and safe on-site medical treatment and prevention to patients.

To reach its goals, Beijing has set up a health emergency response command system. Based on risk evaluation results, the municipal government has created a number of emergency response plans at various levels.