CRI听力：Epidemic Prevention in Quake Recovering Areas

The Health Department of Sichuan Province has for the fist time organized an emergency epidemic drill in the quake hit province. As more and more quake victims are transferred from temporary relocation sites to transitional relocation houses, local officials say preventing epidemics is becoming a tougher task. Tu Yun has the details.

The drill was held at the People's Hospital in the provincial capital Chengdu.(www.hxen.net)

Immediately after the starting order and all the medical staff got into their positions. In less than a minute, the patient had been transferred to the operating room, and the doctors got prepared for surgery.

Jiang Nan, Director of the hospital's Epidemic Prevention Office, gives more details about the patient.

"This patient is sent here from the quake-hit region. After primary diagnosis, we find that she may have caught cholera. It is a serious contagious disease that can be passed on throughout a whole village or a whole region. The patient could die of cholera, so we are racing against time to save her life."

One and a half months after the Sichuan earthquake, many victims have moved from contemporary relocation sites to prefabricated houses, where they will stay for the next two or three years. With limited public health facilities in these relocation houses, residents there are confronted by greater health threats.

The central government has ordered strict prevention of serious infectious diseases in quake-recovering areas.
Sichuan's local health department has worked out various emergency plans, such as hospital drills, to cope with possible occurrences.

Shen Ji, Director of Sichuan Provincial Health Department, says that his emergency plan for preventing epidemics cover five major areas.

"First, we should have medical teams in the relocation districts. Second, we should have epidemic prevention teams. Third, we should make sure there are clean public toilets. Fourth, we should set up garbage treatment centers. Finally, we should also guarantee a clean water supply." (www.hXen.com)

Shen Ji adds the health department has tightened its supervision of contagious diseases. It also is giving vaccinations to quake victims.

So far, there have not been any reports on outbreaks of contagious diseases in the the region. But as the weather gets hotter, health officials say the task of epidemic prevention will become much tougher.

"The Health Ministry has mobilized medical experts and staff across the country to go to Sichuan. Now, we are provided with sufficient personnel, materials and technology support. We are confident and determined to finish the assigned tasks."

Shen Ji adds his department has offered a full range of medical services in the hardest hit areas so that two or three medical professionals will be stationed in every village.

TU Yun, CRI news.