By Prensa Latina,
Beijing : It is necessary to prevent the outbreak of epidemics in the areas affected by the quake in Sichuan, where there are millions of homeless people, Chinese Health Deputy Minister Gao Qiang stressed.
Health workers must be sent to each town and village to support preventive tasks and avoid outbreaks of infectious disease, the official pointed out.
Gao made the statements during a coordination meeting in Chengdu, the provincial capital, aimed at facing the danger posed by the huge number of displaced people and interruption of drinking water networks.
“We still have to rescue people and provide attention to those wounded, to prevent the number of dead or disabled people from increasing,” the deputy minister recalled when summarizing the responsibilities of the health staff in the zone.
The number of people injured in the May 12 quake currently totals 358,816, of which about 30,000 are still hospitalized, while several thousands ofáothers were taken to the big cities for specialized treatment.
It was agreed in the meeting that civil and military experts in epidemiology will work together in the affected region.