China's newly-appointed Health Minister said an "improved local
public health infrastructure" had ensured no epidemics had broken
out in the areas affected by the flooding of the Huaihe River.
Chen Zhu, who is on an inspection tour of Anhui Province, the most severely flood-hit
area, said, "Medical services, quality of drinking water and the
diets of rural citizens have all improved," Chen said.
He said the new type rural cooperative medical system would be
gradually extended and the expense will be mainly covered by the
government.
"During the process, a financing system, a supervision system
and some education and training are needed," Chen said when
inspecting the disease prevention situation in the flood-hit
area.
Meanwhile, local governments in Anhui Province are intensifying
their efforts in disease prevention and disaster relief.
The personnel, material and technological preparation for coping
with infectious diseases is in full swing, said a local official in
Anhui Province.
However, the country's disease prevention situation in this
flood season is still severe.
Last week, an estimated 2 billion rats invaded 22 counties
around the Dongting Lake in Hunan Province and along the Yangtze River,
after their homes on islands in the lake were flooded.
Local authorities are on the alert for a possible disease
outbreak caused by the rat invasion. Li Junhua, spokesman for the
Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said
last Wednesday work teams had been sent to three cities near the
Dongting Lake - Yueyang, Yiyang and Changde - to help prevent
outbreaks of disease.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)