Health Ministry draws up specific plans for transferring patients from quake-hit area

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Health has asked local health authorities to make detailed plans for transferring patients from quake-hit areas to hospitals in other areas to ensure timely and effective treatment.

Local health authorities, both in quake-hit Qinghai Province and provinces that will receive the patients, must establish medical stations, check patients' conditions, and organize competent medical personnel to treat and transfer the patients, the ministry said in a circular issued Thursday night.

The ministry asked local health authorities to set up teams to lead the transfer, coordinate available medical resources to prepare enough beds, and to make a transfer timetable based on patients' treatment needs.

The circular also included a to-do-list for transferring and treating patients, in which the ministry outlined the principles of treatment and the specific requirements of the transfer.