Rescue & Aid
Medical efforts are in full swing
By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-17 09:25
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Beijing - High altitudes averaging 3,700 meters, bitter cold nights and a language barrier are posing major challenges for rescue and relief efforts under way in quake-hit Yushu.
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 Medical workers from the disease control and prevention center of Qinghai on Friday disinfect and sterilize quake victims at Yushu Stadium, which is serving as a temporary shelter for those who have lost their homes. [CNS] |
Despite the difficulties, at least 1,700 medical workers from across the county are now on location, treating the wounded and trying to contain any potential disease outbreaks while trying to maintain order, said Chen Xianyi, director of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau under the Ministry of Health on Friday.
"Besides mountain sickness caused by oxygen shortage and intensive labor, the rescuers, mostly Han people, are having a tough time trying to understand the locals, most of whom only speak Tibetan," he said at a press conference organized by the State Council Information Office.
As almost all of the hospitals near the quake epicenter have collapsed, severely injured victims are being transferred by air and rail to designated medical institutions in the province capital of Xining, some 800 km from Yushu, and neighboring provinces like Sichuan and Shaanxi.
By Friday, more than 1,000 injured victims had been rushed out of Yushu, according to statistics from the ministry.
"On the day the earthquake struck, some 50 seriously injured people were airlifted from Yushu and sent to various hospitals," Chen said, adding that in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, the epicenter of the 2008 quake, rescue work started much later.
For dozens of psychologists sent to Yushu for mental intervention for the affected as well as rescuers, the language barrier is proving to be a major problem, said Wang Yu, director of the ministry's Medical Administration Department.
As a solution, pamphlets, citing ways to handle negative emotions following a disaster, are being translated into Tibetan. The pamphlets will soon be delivered to those affected by the disaster.
Manuals on disease prevention and control and environment safety will also be translated and widely distributed at densely populated areas like the makeshift medical center and tent homes to help avert major outbreaks.
"So far, no major outbreak of any epidemics have been reported," Wang said.
A contingency disease monitoring system has been launched to closely monitor potential outbreaks, he added.
As of Friday, nearly 70 experts in disease prevention and control had been dispatched to the quake zone, according to the ministry.
Measures including public health education and regular disinfections have also been implemented to ensure safety of water, food and the environment in the quake zone, according to Chen.
The "scientific disposal" of the bodies of humans and animals killed in the quake as well as human feces is also under way, he added.
