In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Red Army's 10,000-km Long March, a team of volunteers is setting off next week to retrace the old route while providing free medical care to people along the way.

The team plans to start off next week from Yudu County, Jiangxi Province, and follow the route of the legendary 1934–35 cross-country trek by the Red Army, said project representatives at a press conference in Beijing on October 11.

Sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and the Ministry of Health, the goal of the program is to focus public attention on health issues in rural China.

The health situation in rural areas is often dire, said Zhang Chaoyang, a Ministry of Health official in charge of rural health. Equipment and service available at grass-roots clinics are often poor.

"Some clinics cannot even perform a surgery as simple as removing an appendix," he said.

The team of medical volunteers will travel in six vehicles and spend two or three days at each of 46 villages under the administration of 24 towns in 10 provinces and regions. They will be on the road from October through January.

"Volunteers will make diagnoses for free, hand out standard medications, give public lectures, help train local doctors and nurses, and take medicine and medical equipment to grass-roots clinics," said Guo Ping, secretary-general of the trip's organizing committee.

To date, 37 volunteers have signed up in east China's Shandong Province. More are being sought in Beijing and Shanghai.

The project is expected to cost between 4.5 million and 5 million yuan (US$542,000 to US$602,000), said Yu Baofa, who owns a medical supply company in Shandong Province and who spearheaded the project.

All the vehicles have been equipped with top-of-the-line portable equipment. Medications valued at 800,000 yuan (US$96,000) have been prepared.

"We hope more people can join us and make contributions, whether in money, time or a few encouraging words," said Yu. 

(China Daily October 12, 2004)