Beijing medical emergency team helps out in Lushan

A medical emergency team from Beijing provided medical services 1,462 times during their relief mission in Lushan county, Sichuan province, health authorities said on Friday.

On Friday, the 50-person team comprising medical workers from Beijing health departments finished the relief tasks and returned from Lushan county, where a magnitude-7 earthquake struck on April 20, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 11,000.

Shen Zhuang, the deputy leader of the team, said that starting on April 23, his team members were involved in regular disinfection and epidemic-prevention projects in 31 resettlement sites in Luyang township, one of the heaviest-hit areas.

They also trained one or two volunteers in every resettlement site for disinfection work, helped 274 households to disinfect drinking water and inspected 70 spots providing safe water.

According to Beijing health authorities, the emergency team also provided psychological consultation services for more than 200 people in Luyang.

Before leaving the quake-hit areas, the team also gave many suggestions for local medical workers, which will play an important role in post-earthquake relief work, the team leader said.