China's Ministry of Health and State Administration of Work Safety have agreed to upgrade the country's mine medical rescue center to part of the national emergency rescue system, according to a post on the People’s Republic of China official government web portal.

Mine accidents have been a major threat to work safety of China. The latest coal mine blast in Hegang City of northeast Heilongjiang Province killed 108 miners last week, according to the government.

The Ministry of Health and the State Administration of Work Safety will both directly command the rescue center and dispatch first-aid experts when mine accidents and health emergencies happen.

The center will expand its first-aid experts pool to about 1,500 members, according to the post.

The government will also organize more professional training for the experts to deal with medical emergencies in other industries, according to the post.

The rescue center for mine accidents was set up in 2003 and now has 42 sub-centers, which have helped saving more than 2,500 lives in more than 5,400 mine accidents.