四川灾区的“王海清”现象
Professor Li said that there was a so-called “golden period”, which is three months after their injury. If proper treatment and rehabilitation services were provided within this period, possible disability could be avoided. More importantly, persistent treatment is also critical after the golden period if a full recovery is not achieved, or the patient may permanently lose the chance of a full recovery.
“Our survey in Jiangyou City demonstrated that, 65% of the quake-wounded people needed more active rehabilitation treatment. Accordingly, it is estimated that the total number of patient in such condition in Sichuan is at least between 6000-7000, whereas the services we had provided is far from enough.”
On Feb 11th, Professor Li was told by an official in Sichuan Provincial Department of Public Health that, the estimated figure on this issue was also 7000. “This conclusion is not a copy of our research posted on the internet but drawn from their own independent statistics collected from local departments of public health.” Professor Li added.
Insufficient capital is the major fact that has brought Wang Haiqing and many people like him to this quagmire. Professor Li and his team had proved this by their firsthand experience.
The China Rehabilitation Academy has been appealing to organize a national aid group that could give some support to people in need. When this proposal was finally approved by the Central Department of Public and the aid team was ready to entre the quake-hit region with100 medical experts, local government had no choice but to refuse their kindness – they couldn’t afford it. “The financial aid had not arrived yet. No money for first aid, not to mention rehabilitation. The experts we brought over didn’t charge a penny for seeing patients or other services. Local government or hospital only needed to provide meals and accommodation. However that was also unaffordable.”
Dec 31st, all medical financial aid was stopped. Those wounded had to leave for home. “Afterwards, there were not that many quake-injured people taking rehabilitation in Chengdu. None in Huaxi Hospital or Hospital of Orthopedics, some in Chengdu No.2 People Hospital…Now the biggest rehabilitation center is Mianzhu City People Hospital and a county level hospital, only because they had the support of our project and the Hong Kong Fuyou Fund.”
According to a staff in Sichuan Provincial People hospital, there are still dozens of patient who couldn’t afford to pay but also wouldn’t leave the hospital. So far, there’s no relevant policy released working on this issue. The hospital didn’t kick out these people for humanitarian concern, which left them an enormous financial pressure.
Jiang Tao, the spokesman of Sichuan Provincial Department of Public Health, told the journalist of China Economics: “From 12th May to 31st Dec, this period was defined as emergency aid period, in which to see a doctor was gratis for both injured people and ordinary patient. So far there is no respond to our proposal calling for new medical assistance policy.”
Then how much money on earth are we talking about.
It is calculated by Professor Li: “it is approximately 3000 per person. Even if all of the 7000 wounded are from poverty stricken families, it still needs only 210 million to solve this problem. Not to mention we will certainly make assessment on every family’s financial condition, make sure the money was spent on people who need it the most.”
Of course it was agreed that such capital should be provided by the government instead of individuals or non-government organizations since administrative order on searching and helping people like Wang Haiqing would be a lot more efficient than any other efforts.
励建安教授告诉中国经济时报记者，地震伤员的康复有三个月的“黄金期”，如果那时能持续做好，就能少去很多麻烦，可惜都早早出院了。“黄金期”过后，未得到有效康复的伤员依然应该坚持救治，否则他们就将永远失去恢复健康的机会。
“江油现场调查的结果实质性地表明，６５％的患者需要积极的康复医疗。据此推算，四川需要康复医疗的患者至少在６０００—７０００人以上。而我们已经提供的服务远远不足！”
２月１１日，四川省卫生厅的官员告诉励教授，省厅的预计值也是７０００人。“我昨天问了卫生厅官员，厅里的数字７０００人是不是根据我们在网上公布的预计来的，回答说不是，说是他们根据各地卫生局报告的统计结果。”励建安对本报记者说。
在资金短缺的问题面前，康复医疗救治不能到位——这是地震伤员一步步陷入困境的最主要因素。
一直在灾区为伤员的后续康复治疗奔走的励建安教授以亲身经历证实了这一点：“中国康复医学会提出组织国家康复医疗队来支援，终于得到卫生部的认可，组织了国家康复医疗队。列了１８０—１９０人的医疗专家名单，最终落实能来的有１００人左右，当地不要。开始，第一批的是要的，但后来就不要了。因为连当地一些康复机构的基层工作人员的工资都付不起，国家的钱又没有到位，急救的钱都没有到，就更别说康复的钱了。国家的钱就始终进不到医院，专家来了，看病服务都不要钱，但是吃饭和住宿当地要安排，就连这一点地方都有困难，以后的批次便干脆不要了。”
“去年１１月中旬，通知说全部撤退，１２月３１日，所有的医疗费用停止，伤员动员回家。许多医院的伤员出院，华西医院，此后就一个也没有了，骨科医院一个没有，省人民医院有几十个，成都第二人民医院有一些，现在最大的康复中心是绵竹市人民医院，一个县级医院，是因为有我们项目的支持，有香港福幼基金会的支持。”
２月６日下午，四川省人民医院的工作人员对中国经济时报记者说，目前，国家和省里还没有相关政策下来，医院完全是基于人道主义的考虑，没有将付不起钱的患者赶走，但是医院已经不得不考虑面临的巨大经济压力。
２月１０日，四川省卫生厅新闻发言人江涛对中国经济时报记者说，地震发生之后到１２月３１日之前，国家定位为应急救助时期，在这个时期内，灾区的地震伤员乃至普通病人，看病都是不花钱的。１２月３１日之后，国家没有出台政策，省卫生厅为此曾多次向上提交报告，希望能出台政策，但是到现在还没有回音。
资金，究竟需要多少？励建安教授测算说，“如果比照在江油所做的，均摊下去，可以算为平均每人３０００元，即使这７０００名患者都是困难家庭，也只需要２１００多万元便可以解决一个这么大的问题，何况我们还可以对患者家庭做评估，保证将资金用在最缺乏经济能力的患者身上。”
一位志愿者对中国经济时报记者说，这笔钱，如果依靠社会，将难免会遗漏未被发现的“王海清”，如果政府出资，并且发动各级医疗机构切实查找，就能基本为地震伤者尽到人道主义的义务。
[SQR's approx. translation into English]
