China donates 8 mobile clinics for poor PHL communities

To provide marginalized Filipinos better access to basic health services, the Chinese government on Monday turned over to the Philippine Health department over eight mobile clinics worth P85 million. The gesture could be a sign that relations between the two countries are warming up again after it was strained following the Aug. 23 Manila hostage tragedy where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed. The Chinese embassy in Manila said the eight mobile clinics, each equipped with state-of-the art medical amenities and laboratory equipment, will benefit more than 200 people a day, especially in poor communities. Embassy spokesman Sun Yi said the mobile clinics will be sent to hospitals and medical centers in Metro Manila, Cabanatuan City, Davao, and Zamboanga del Sur province. The mobile clinics, the embassy said, could be used for diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment of common diseases. The donation is part of the grant of more than P100 million offered by the Chinese government to the Philippines under the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation, which was signed by the two countries under the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Manila on January 15, 2007. The clinics are meant to "offer comprehensive physical examinations to ensure that accurate treatment are made," the embassy said. Each mobile clinic houses a digital ECG machine, ultrasound image system, urine analyzer, hematology analyzer, X-ray machine, automatic chemistry analyzer, tabletop low speed centrifuge, an X-ray film illuminator and an electric examination table — all of which allow for accurate and quick diagnosis of most ailments. The clinics are also equipped with refrigerators for medicines and ultraviolet sterilizers used to ensure that medical instruments are antiseptic. Each mobile clinic also has a defibrillator and a medical oxygen concentrator that can be used to treat emergency cases on the spot. Many emergency patients in rural villages throughout the country die before they reach hospitals. - DM/KBK, GMANews.TV