Interview: "We are racing against time" to help Nepal prevent post-quake epidemic threats: China Medical Team head

The China Medical Team sent by the Chinese government to quake-stricken Nepal has been standing in solidarity with the Nepalese people and will continue 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 in Nepal 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-quake epidemic prevention assistance to the Nepalese government, military and people, during which all of us relied on convenient food only," the uniform-clad Lu told Xinhua in an exclusive interview at one of the tents they set up inside a college compound in Kathmandu.

Just behind him, his team members and local assistants were all having instant noodles or instant rice.

"When we first arrived here, conditions were poor and there wasn't even water for us to take a shower," Lu recalled.

The China Medical Team, composed of epidemic prevention experts, disease control officials 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 tents they set up overnight amid a downpour.

"On April 30, in association with Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population, military, as well as the country's National Public Health Laboratory, we formed the '3+1' cooperative mechanism. On May 4, with the joining of the Epidemiology and Disease Control division, the Nepal Health Research Council and the Manmohan Memorial Medical College and Teaching Hospital, the '6+1' joint operation mechanism was officially established," Lu said.

After completing a post-disaster epidemic risk assessment report for Kathmandu and a corresponding epidemic prevention technical plan, the team submitted the two documents to the Nepalese side.

"By forming a joint testing platform with Nepal's National Public Health Laboratory, we have been able to conduct 52 testing programs, including the detection of intestinal infectious diseases, respiratory infectious diseases, as well as water and food poisoning," Lu said, adding that they have tested a total of 282 samples of various types.

In a bid to protect the Nepalese people from infectious diseases, the team has conducted or guided locals to conduct disinfection and sterilization on 183 toilets, 311 garbage dump sites, 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 some 11,000 pamphlets and put up around 150 posters, all in both English and Nepalese, which read as" Drink boiled water, 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 make sure 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 epidemic prevention operations, the China Medical Team has sent its members to various hospitals in Kathmandu, treating over 220 patients, Lu said.

Although over 100 international medical teams flowed in after the quake, the burden of post-disaster epidemic prevention will mostly fall on the shoulders of the Nepalese people considering 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 been given on-site disinfection and sterilization demonstrative training," Lu said, underscoring the 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 that epidemic threats in Nepal are fairly real.

"We're racing against time," Lu said. Endi