How long will rescue work continue before we finally give up efforts to rescue people trapped under the rubble?

Deputy Health Minister Gao Qiang gave a good answer: "As long as there's a trace of hope, we'll make the utmost effort, and never give up".

Deputy Health Minister Gao Qiang answers questions during the press conference on May 15, 2008.

He said the health ministry's disaster relief personnel have reached all the quake-stricken areas where the roads had been cleared. As for the blocked areas, 90 helicopters have been transferring disaster relief personnel day and night to carry out medical treatment.

Monday's (May 12) earthquake in southwest Sichuan Province caused China's worst natural disaster in 30 years. Health department teams are making every effort to rescue the injured, reduce causalities and prevent epidemics, according to the minister.

Gao said that on Monday evening the Ministry of Health sent 700 medical workers to disaster-hit areas to carry out first aid, along with 15 tons of drugs, supplies of blood and blood plasma.

As of 10:00 AM Wednesday, the ministry had organized 190 medical teams, comprising 1,755 people from 18 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, to carry out rescue work in affected areas. A total of 5,000 medical workers from outside Sichuan Province, including medical teams from the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the armed police and the public security systems, and another 5,000 from inside the province, are working in the areas affected, he said.

Fifteen containers of surgical equipment, tents and other medical necessities were transported to the areas on Tuesday, he said.

Epidemic prevention

No epidemics have been reported in the regions struck by the earthquake, Gao said, adding that "We will try to achieve the goal of 'no big epidemic after a great disaster'."

"We have made careful plans for disease control and prevention in disaster areas and have sent a large group of medical workers to those areas to carry out the plans," said Gao.

"However, whether we achieve the goal of 'no big epidemic after a great disaster' will depend on the real work we do in those areas," he added.

Gao said they would step up the disinfection of drinking water and food to avoid diseases caused by contamination. Additional disinfection work would be targeted at specific kinds of virus and bacteria. People in affected areas would also be vaccinated against epidemics.

He said the bodies of the dead would be handled properly as soon as possible to prevent harmful bacteria from growing.

He stressed that medical workers should also pay attention to their own health.

"We must not compound the losses caused by the natural disaster and cause people to suffer even more by failing to do our job well," said Gao, adding that medical workers from across the country will be mobilized for help in disaster-hit areas.

"We will not be able to face our country and our people in these areas, if we do not achieve our goals," he said.

Aid

Gao said that after the earthquake happened, many countries and international organizations offered to provide aid materials to China, including first-aid medicines and medical equipment. We really appreciate that and would like to accept their donations, he said.

In the future, he said, we will need a large quantity of sterilized materials and we also hope that enterprises engaged in sanitation, sterilization and epidemic prevention will step up production of safe, effective and cheap products to support the disaster relief work.

Psychotherapy

Gao added that emergency medical teams must include qualified psychotherapists to carry out effective counseling and treatment to help people cope with the trauma and psychological damage caused by the disaster.

(China.org.cn by Zhou Jing, May 15, 2008)