Chinese medical rescuers depart for Philippines

A batch of Chinese emergency medical rescuers departed for the Philippines on Thursday from east China's Zhejiang province to help with typhoon relief, local authorities said.

The 50-strong team, with a good medical rescue capacity and plenty rescue experience, departed from the provincial capital of Hangzhou on Thursday night, to carry out humanitarian aid in the Philippines, said Ye Zhen, chief of the team and deputy director of the provincial health department.

Four members are directly appointed by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and other 46 are from Zhejiang. The members include practitioners in pediatrics, respirology, orthopaedics and infection; experts in disease control and prevention; and emergency managers.

Many of them participated in rescue work for the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 in southwestern Sichuan Province, which claimed more than 69,000 lives.

The team also takes with them medicine and medical equipment such as B-ultrasound scanners. Upon arrival, the team will establish a field hospital to offer medical services for survivors of Typhoon Haiyan and work on disease prevention and control.

A team member said he will follow the spirit of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying and do his best to carry out humanitarian medical assistance.

The rescue work is estimated to last for two weeks.

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan had increased to 3,982 as of Tuesday, and the number of the injured ballooned to 18,267, according to figures from the Philippine government.