(image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Since yesterday, a medical team from South Korea has started to treat victims from the flood that followed the collapse of a hydroelectric plant that was under construction in Laos.
The emergency rescue team composed of 20 Korean medical staff started treating children at Attapeu Province in southern Laos.
To help treat adult flood victims, the medical team also set up three tents as temporary clinics at Sanam Xay, the region of the province most heavily affected by the flood.
In the vicinity, there are four temporary shelters currently housing 3,500 flood victims who have nowhere else to stay.
Prior to the arrival of the medical team from Korea, relief medical teams from China and Vietnam also started treating patients in temporary clinics.
A week has passed since the accident occurred, but flood victims continued to pack the nearby health clinic, creating large crowds around the area.
As the number of patients requiring hospitalization grows, the clinic has surpassed its maximum capacity, with scores of patients on hospital beds scattered outside.
One Vietnamese medical staff said that although the number of patients coming to the clinics had fallen, still over 100 patients come to the clinic daily, on average.
“Most patients complain of stomach pain, high temperature and sore throats,” said the doctor.
SK E&C, the builder of the dam in question, is supplying approximately 60 percent of the medical supplies required by the clinics.
An official at the company said that a doctor has been dispatched to the site to check the medical supplies flown in daily by SK E&C.
The Korean construction company is also carrying out efforts to prevent the spread of infectious diseases by cleaning and sanitizing the areas near the shelters for flood victims.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
