In Dazhu County in southwest China's Sichuan Province five officials found guilty
of dereliction of duty in the prevention of the spread of bird flu
have been removed from their posts.
They proved incompetent in responding to the outbreak of the
province's first case of bird flu, according to a circular released
recently by the Dazhu county government.
Between December 22-25, 1,800 chickens and ducks died in three
households in Liuyan Village in Yangjia Town in Dazhu.
At 11:30?PM on December 24, a major poultry farmer surnamed
Liu, reported the sudden death of many chickens and ducks on his
farm to Liu Shengyu, chief of the Yangjia Town Animal Husbandry
Station and Feng Renfu, a town government official.
A government spokesman said, however, that both ignored the
reports and did not go to Liu's home to investigate the case. The
official added that the guilty people also failed to report the
incidents to leading officials in the town.
The circular added that Huang Jilong, deputy chief of the Dazhu
County animal quarantine station, did not pay sufficient attention
after learning of the deaths of poultry in three households in
Liuyan Village.
He did not send staff to the village to verify the cases or
report it to the county's animal husbandry bureau, the circular
said.
Zou Gaoping, Party chief of Yangjia Town and Zeng Jing, chief of
the Dazhu County Animal Husbandry Bureau, paid inadequate attention
to the case after learning of the outbreak, the circular said.
The Ministry of Health announced in Beijing on January 3 that it
had confirmed an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in Dazhu and the epidemic
had been brought under control. In the wake of the first and only
outbreak of bird flu in Dazhu three human cases were discovered in
Sichuan
The first two occurred in January and both patients died. The
third case, an 8-year-oild girl, was in April and she is
recovering. She is receiving treatment for carditis, a symptom of
bird flu, according to Su Lin, chief of the emergency response
office of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Health.
(China Daily May 12, 2006)