China monitoring smog health impacts

China has been closely monitoring the health impacts creating by its recent smoggy weather, especially the particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns, widely known as PM2.5. This could be a lengthy process as experts are trying to figure out how they are related, said a senior health official.

Zhou Jun, a division director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, made remarks Friday responding to media inquiry on whether or not the authority would set up a special department in hospitals to handle smog-related medical conditions.

"How the smog impacts human health remains unclear and relative studies are still under way," Zhou said. "For now, there won't be such a smog-specific department in hospitals."

Medical experts said long-time exposure to air pollution does harm human health, particularly the lungs, but they are still studying how exactly the effects happen.

In other developments, more than 1,000 Chinese hospitals set up an information linking system to make it easier for doctors to retrieve patient records.