A team of seven health experts, sourced by disaster relief training and recruitment charity RedR on behalf of the British Government is currently in China assisting with relief efforts following the devastating earthquake.

The medical team, backed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the support of Virgin Atlantic, is the first UK medical team to fly out to China since the earthquake. The team, led by Dr Tony Redmond, of Manchester University, includes disaster medical specialists in the areas of reconstructive surgery, orthopaedic surgery, nursing, public health and emergency medicine and is due to remain in China for 10 days following their arrival last Saturday.

Since arriving in Sichuan, the team have been involved in providing both practical medical assistance and imparting their knowledge to local medical staff. For the first few days in Mianyang, Sichuan's second largest city, 90km from the earthquake epicentre and now while based in Chengdu.

Dr Tony Redmond, Professor of International Emergency Medicine at Manchester University, has been impressed by the quick and effective response to the disaster, "I have every sympathy for the Chinese having to deal with such a horrendous disaster. We have been incredibly warmly received and the response stands out as being well-organised, efficient and effective."

The Chinese Government made the request for a UK medical team directly to the British Government, who approached RedR on the advice of the Department for International Development. Within 48 hours RedR had mobilised the team. Travelling with the medical team is RedR member, Dr Lucy Reynolds, who is a community health expert, speaks mandarin and is familiar with the Chinese medical system.

Dr Reynolds said the feedback from Mianyang Central Hospital, where the team has been working, was very positive, "Our British medics are proving to be very capable, very swift, and very committed. This is the first medical team who have ever been hosted by this hospital but they seem to be very welcome and to be fitting in really well with the Chinese team. They are also attracting many observers who are keen to learn new surgical techniques.

Practical assistance and knowledge sharing

The British medics have been sharing their expertise with local medics and public health specialists by giving a series of lectures. Dr Redmond lectured on 'Epidemics Following Earthquakes and Dealing with the Dead', while Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Toby Branfoot covered 'The Treatment of Complex Limb Injuries and Waseem Saeed discussed reconstructive surgery. A&E Surgeon, Amjid Mohamed and Consultant Nurse, Heather McClelland have been working in the emergency room and travelling on ambulances, training local staff on receiving casualties and resuscitation.

In addition to this the team, including orthopaedic surgeon, Asad Syed are performing daily operations, mainly complex limb injuries involving fractures and tissue loss. Dr Redmond comments, "Something which is specific to this earthquake response is the number of people who have sustained foot and heal fractures in combination with wedge fractures (affecting the spine). This is common in people who fall from a great height, a feature in earthquake situations where there are many tall buildings and people have had to jump."

While in China the team are being well looked after by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Affairs Office of Sichuan province. They have received visits from Chinese officials including Dr Wang Gang of the Ministry of Health and Dr Xu Yuezhong, the Coordinator of Medical Aid for the Sichuan Provincial Health Bureau.

Ends

Notes to the editor:

Each year millions of people's lives are devastated by natural disaster, conflict and poverty. RedR trains, recruits and supports humanitarian workers and other professionals who help people to rebuild their lives.

RedR does this through: • Training programmes in the UK and in disaster areas • Customised training courses for international relief and development organisations • A recruitment service for humanitarian professionals • Technical Support Service to help solve problems that aid workers have in the field • A membership service for professionals who can make a positive contribution to humanitarian work.

As well as UK training, we currently have training programmes running in Sri Lanka following the devastating tsunami of 2004 and in Sudan in response to the increasing destabilisation of the region.

Please visit our website at: www.redr.org.uk

Press Contact Details: Sarah Milnes Communications Manager 1 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA +44 (0) 20 7233 3116 sarah.milnes@redr.org www.redr.org.uk