Hainan Free From Disease After Severe FloodNeither epidemic diseases nor more casualties have been found in South China's Hainan Province after a severe flood, said officials with the provincial department of public health.The flood, lasting from October 12 to 16, was the most serious in 100 years, said the Hainan Provincial Office for Flood, Wind and Drought Control. Torrential rainstorms affected 2.96 million people in cities, towns and counties, and 210,000 villagers were besieged. The flood took the lives of ten people. Urgent measures were taken to treat the wounded and to prevent the outbreak of disease, as soon as the flood was over. A total of 1,975 medical workers were assigned to 51 temporary clinics, where 30,000 patients received medical treatment. Doctors also went door to door to give out medicine, and help sterilize the drinking water in 16,500 wells and residential quarters. Over 360,000 pamphlets were sent out to spread information on health and prevention of epidemic diseases among flood victims, effectively preventing an outbreak of disease. Statistics shows that over 3.8 million yuan (457,830 U.S. dollars) was spent on medicine in eight severely damaged areas. Many provinces such as Guangdong and Hubei also contributed a great deal of medicine to flood-hit areas. Experts with State Ministry of Public Health affirmed Hainan's effective work on medical treatment and epidemic prevention during their inspection recently. |
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