A total of 5,914 people injured in the May 12 earthquake have been taken from southwest China's Sichuan Province for treatment elsewhere in the country by Sunday, said the Ministry of Health.

The number of injured in the quake zone far exceeded local medical capacity, said Zheng Zhongwei, head of the medical evacuee work group in Sichuan. "It's safer for the patients to be transfered out of the quake zone. In other provinces they will receive better treatment."

On Monday, 484 patients would be taken by air or rail to Shanghai, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong. Fifteen provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were required by the ministry to receive the injured.

Zheng said that under ministry regulations, only seriously injured but stable patients could be transferred as they needed long-term medical care and were unlikely to require emergency treatment en route.

A total of 8,000 quake victims will be sent to 18 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country for treatment by the end of May, according to the transfer plan mapped out by the ministry.

The first batch of wounded people were transferred out of the province on May 17.

The May 12 quake killed at least 65,080 people and left 360,058 injured nationwide.

A 6.4 magnitude aftershock on Sunday killed eight people and injured more than 1,000 in southwest and northwest China, according to local government sources.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2008)