A German medical team set up a mobile community hospital on Monday in China's quake-hit Sichuan Province.

Located at an engineering factory gate in Dujiangyan City's economic development zone, the hospital received the first group of 123 injured persons on Monday morning.

Consisting of 25 tents, the hospital offers 120 therapy beds, and includes an operation room, delivery room, emergency treatment room, radiation room, laboratory and pharmacy.

The hospital comprises internal, surgical, paediatric and gynecological departments.

The massive earthquake that devastated the province on May 12 had turned the city's three comprehensive hospitals into ramshackle buildings. The only tent clinic, built in the square of Dujiangyan People's Hospital, could not accommodate so many injured.

Germany sent 15 experienced technicians and medical experts to Dujiangyan on May 23, together with 50 tons of medical materials.

The arrival of the German medical team had alleviated the great pressure on local medical staff, said Gao Bangzhong, head of Dujiangyan People's Hospital. He added the German colleagues, with consummate medical skill, had made arduous efforts to treat the wounded.

Germany planned to hand over the 1.5 million euro (US$2.36 million) mobile hospital to the local government after the medical team had finished its task.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2008)