The first group of 200 quake injured were evacuated by train Monday morning from here near the epicenter of Sichuan Province to neighboring Chongqing municipality for treatment.

Wang Guoqiang, vice health minister, said 2,000 injured were planned to be evacuated to hospitals in Chongqing, where 5,000 beds in 10 hospitals had been vacated for them.

He said the move was to relieve the pressure on medical facilities in the quake zone and give better treatment to the patients.

According to him, many provinces offered to take in patients from Sichuan, but for consideration of the injured, they would be mainly transferred to neighboring provinces like Yunnan, Guizhou and Shaanxi.

He said those evacuated were either not so severely injured, who nevertheless need continued treatment, or those who need special treatment.

Medical workers would accompany the injured during the evacuation, he said.

Mao Qun'an, the health ministry spokesman, said if there were too many patients in the quake zone it would increase pressure on the medical resources and on epidemic prevention there. Evacuating some of the patients would help raise treatment quality.

He said nearly all epidemic prevention experts in China were in Sichuan now to help and the ministry would also guarantee the supply of disease prevention medicine.

The quake areas were ordered to report on a daily basis the epidemic situation, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)