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Sichuan hospitals struggling to address needs of mothers, infants

By Gong Yidong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-23 07:41

Before the earthquake struck, the provincial government set aside 170 million yuan to build new 103 MCH hospitals in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, as well as 130 counties.

By 2010, the goal is for 90 percent of pregnant women to give birth in hospitals, enabling the reduction of the maternal mortality rate to less than 50 per 100,000, says Han Mei, deputy director of MCH affairs, Sichuan Department of Health.

However, the earthquake disrupted the implementation of many new programs and the construction of new hospitals, Han says.

Right after the earthquake, the international community, particularly the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF), did turn attention to mothers and babies in need.

UNICEF sent a package of relief materials and medicines to Sichuan. The supplies included 140 emergency health kits and nearly 64,000 packages of nutrient supplements, enough to stretch the provision of basic maternal services to 1.4 million people over a three-month period.

Yet along with relief materials, education for medical practitioners is needed. "The UNICEF assistance is welcomed, but training should also be given to the doctors and nurses, as many descriptions are written in English," observes Chen Rongjiu, vice-chairman of Shifang Red Cross Society.

Other forms of medical aid are still in great demand. Medicines and other operational and sterilizing facilities are badly needed, as much equipment was buried under the rubble. At the same time, problems created by the earthquake have intensified the demand for other medicines. For instance, the occurrence of anaemia among women and children is now higher in Sichuan than nationwide.

Psychological support for children is another focus. Wei Yingying, the Chinese representative of UNICEF, calls for more psychological care to be provided to children, whom he says are more vulnerable to post-quake trauma. A survey by UNICEF China shows that more than 5,000 children are now living apart from their relatives in quake-hit parts of Sichuan.

"Their protection should be listed as a top priority," she says.

Nationwide, the Ministry of Health is formulating a blueprint for the reconstruction of health services in Sichuan, and MCH facilities will be a major focus.

Meanwhile, the Sichuan Department of Health hopes to provide each county at least two or three obstetric tables and a modest medical building in which to perform basic operations.

Chen Shichao, the new mother, says that she never expected that she would give birth in a Buddhist temple, on a day doctors in Sichuan were racing to assist victims of a natural disaster that took 70,000 lives and left more than 18,000 missing.

A baby born by a woman from the earthquake-hit Wenchuan county four days after the quake receives good care at a hospital in Chongqing Municipality. [China Daily]

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