KATHMANDU, May 16 -- The China Medical Team sent by the Chinese government toquake-stricken Nepal has been standing in solidarity with the Nepalese people and willcontinue to provide technical assistance to help the Himalayan nation cope with post-disaster epidemic threats, the head of the team said here Saturday.
Lu Lin, leader of the China Medical Team, said his 59-member team has been working inNepal since April 29, four days after the powerful 7.9-magnitude quake struck the country.
"We have been working round the clock in the past 18 days to provide post-quakeepidemic prevention assistance to the Nepalese government, military and people, duringwhich all of us relied on convenient food only," the uniform-clad Lu told Xinhua in anexclusive interview at one of the tents they set up inside a college compound inKathmandu.
Just behind him, his team members and local assistants were all having instant noodles orinstant rice.
"When we first arrived here, conditions were poor and there wasn't even water for us totake a shower," Lu recalled.
The China Medical Team, composed of epidemic prevention experts, disease controlofficials and doctors, arrived in Nepal on April 29 from China's Yunnan Province. By 8 a.m.the next morning, they had their first meeting in their makeshift office, one of the tentsthey set up overnight amid a downpour.
"On April 30, in association with Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population, military, aswell as the country's National Public Health Laboratory, we formed the '3+1' cooperativemechanism. On May 4, with the joining of the Epidemiology and Disease Control division,the Nepal Health Research Council and the Manmohan Memorial Medical College andTeaching Hospital, the '6+1' joint operation mechanism was officially established," Lu said.
After completing a post-disaster epidemic risk assessment report for Kathmandu and acorresponding epidemic prevention technical plan, the team submitted the two documentsto the Nepalese side.
"By forming a joint testing platform with Nepal's National Public Health Laboratory, wehave been able to conduct 52 testing programs, including the detection of intestinalinfectious diseases, respiratory infectious diseases, as well as water and food poisoning," Lusaid, adding that they have tested a total of282 samples of various types.
In a bid to protect the Nepalese people from infectious diseases, the team has conducted orguided locals to conduct disinfection and sterilization on 183 toilets, 311 garbage dumpsites, 171 ruins sites, 15 human body burial sites and 25 animal body burial sites.
To raise people's health awareness, the team has handed out some11,000 pamphlets andput up around 150 posters, all in both English and Nepalese, which read as" Drink boiledwater, eat cooked food, wash hands frequently and prevent mosquito bites".
"Before finalizing the contents of the pamphlets and posters, we invited a Nepalese,covered the English words and let him read the Nepalese words only, so that we can makesure that a maximum amount of Nepalese people can get our message," said Lu.
Besides sending four task forces to the worst-hit areas to conduct on-site epidemicprevention operations, the China Medical Team has sent its members to various hospitalsin Kathmandu, treating over 220 patients, Lu said.
Although over 100 international medical teams flowed in after the quake, the burden ofpost-disaster epidemic prevention will mostly fall on the shoulders of the Nepalese peopleconsidering the length of time, experts have said.
"To date, we have trained a total of 948 Nepalese medical personnel and volunteers,including 575 people who have received theoretical training and 373 others who have beengiven on-site disinfection and sterilization demonstrative training," Lu said, underscoringthe aim of the training: to equip Nepal with a local epidemic prevention team that will stay.
Based on the findings and testings by the China Medical Team, Lu said, they believe thatepidemic threats in Nepal are fairly real.
"We're racing against time," Lu said.
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