China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced that about
14,000 medical staff have been dispatched to treat the sick and
injured in areas worst affected by the severe winter disaster.
The personnel in 2,923 groups will work in Anhui, Jiangxi,
Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces as well as Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality.
Minister of Health Chen Zhu and Deputy Minister Gao Qiang have
ordered public health administrations to carefully implement the
state medical procedures and rescue emergency response plans to
ensure timely treatment for the ill and injured.
Local health administrations should also ensure food and
drinking water safety.
The authorities have delivered 3.45 million brochures to people
in disaster-affected areas to raise awareness of disease prevention
and advise on how to deal with the weather.
Tens of millions of people in central and south China's 14
provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions are suffering the
heaviest snow and sleet and the coldest temperatures in five
decades.
On Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Public Security and
Ministry of Communications jointly issued a circular saying that
expressways nationwide should not be "randomly" closed.
(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2008)