Rural China takes measures to prevent SARS spread

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, May 10, 2003

Rural China takes measures to prevent SARS spread

Xu Hongke, a rural doctor in Xuyong County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, has been commended by the county government for reporting a suspected case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

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Xu Hongke, a rural doctor in Xuyong County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, has been commended by the county government for reporting a suspected case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

The only confirmed SARS case and two suspected SARS cases were reported by rural doctors, said He Renjun, secretary of the XuyongCounty Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Xuyong County borders Guizhou Province and is just 300 kilometers away from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan. The county, together with other poverty-stricken rural counties, have been striving for prevention of the spread of SARS.

"The rural medical system in poverty-stricken areas has been confronted with a severe challenge. We have launched a campaign bythe people to make up for the deficiencies of the rural medical system," said He Renjun.

Xuyong County has set up a headquarters for SARS control, instituted a reporting system, and made general medical check-ups at its 576 villages.

Those who returned to their hometown from other Chinese provinces after March 25 must report where they had been, whether they had symptoms of SARS, and they must measure their temperatureeveryday.

An estimated 72,186 farmers in Xuyong County left to seek work in other part of China this year. Of those, 29,451 work in south China's Guangdong Province and another 2,000 work in Beijing, the two worst-affected areas. To date, 1,296 people have returned fromGuangdong and 74 from Beijing.

Mao Zhiyong, director of the Longfeng Township Hospital, said the township had started training courses on SARS prevention for rural doctors.

At the bordering areas with Guizhou Province, the county's medical workers disinfect buses passing through and measure the temperatures of passengers at six observation centers.

WHO experts inspect SARS prevention work in rural China

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert team inspected disease control facilities in a county some 120 kilometers south of Beijing Friday, making their maiden visit to China's vast rural area.

The four-member team, led by James Maguire, visited local hospitals and the epidemic prevention station of Xushui County in suburban Baoding, a city in north China's Hebei Province.

The experts also visited a household now in quarantine on Friday morning and came to Dongshiduan Township in the afternoon for further checkup.

"The experts picked the sites for inspection in random order," said a local health official.

The group arrived in Baoding on Thursday and will continue their visit in Shijiazhuang, the province's capital.

WHO experts have already visited Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai to inspect SARS prevention and control work.

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