Basic health services in all 19 counties in Dujiangyan - one of the places most severely devastated by the May 12 Sichuan earthquake - have been restored with help from Shanghai Health Bureau.

The bureau launched a comprehensive health support plan in late June, officials said yesterday. Twenty-seven medical teams comprising 261 local staff and disease prevention professionals have served more than 21,000 patients, conducted 1,500 medical tours and operated on 46 patients in the past month.

According to a central government order, Shanghai was designated to provide relief and after-quake reconstruction support at Dujiangyan, where the entire health system had been destroyed.

"To quicken its reconstruction, Shanghai Health Bureau transported 1,900 pieces of medical equipment such as respiratory machines, X-ray machines and ultrasonic diagnostic machines," bureau official Song Guofan said. "The equipment was donated by the Shanghai government to Dujiangyan last Thursday. All the machines will be used at temporary clinics and hospitals there.

"Seven hundred more medical appliances will be airlifted to Dujiangyan soon."

Shanghai is expected to help build 12 temporary medical facilities including seven city-based health management centers and hospitals, and five county and community-based health service centers in Dujiangyan by September.

Covering more than 50,000 square meters, the 12 facilities will have more than 680 beds to meet demand.

The bureau plans to help Dujiangyan recover its primary health system by the end of the year.

(Shanghai Daily August 1, 2008)