A 65-member Russian medical team began to treat patients in a makeshift tent hospital in earthquake-hit Sichuan Province on Wednesday afternoon.

The Russian medical team received the first group of 20 injured persons at 2:00 p.m. local time, including an 80-year-old woman suffering from a cerebral concussion.

The Russian medical team, consisting of doctors and nurses from a number of major hospitals in Russia, arrived in Chengdu on Tuesday, one day after its offer of help was accepted by the Red Cross Society of China.

According to Alexander Ivanus, chief of the field hospital, the hospital is fully equipped and capable of giving on-site treatment, thus reducing time that would otherwise be wasted on transfer of patients and maximizing their chances of survival.

More than a dozen huge inflatable tents were erected on the compound of a vocational high school in Pengzhou, a suburban district of Sichuan Province's capital city Chengdu. The tents are equipped with electric fans, which are critical to keep patients cool in this sweltering part of the country.

Patients sent to the hospital were immediately examined by Russian doctors. Those with minor injuries had their wounds dressed while those with serious injuries went directly into surgery.

Ivanus said the hospital is capable of treating 300 patients every day and conducting five surgeries at once.

Most of the Russian medical team members are highly experienced and participated in rescue work in the deadly 2005 Kashmir earthquake and 2004 Asian tsunami.

"Will I have an amputation?" a little girl asked as a Russian doctor examined her injured ankle with a portable X-ray machine.

"No," the doctor answered. "Your injury is not very bad. I'm sure you will be able to run like a little deer again."

The doctors have Chinese interpreters to help them at the hospital.

The Russian medical team brought with it a mobile hospital, transportation vehicles and relief materials. They also transported in another 36 tons of humanitarian assistance to Chengdu on Tuesday afternoon, including seven tons of medicine.

China has agreed that foreign medical teams could come to China to help relief work.

"Considering the need of the current relief work, the China Red Cross is authorized to accept medical teams from foreign countries to assist medical and treatment work," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Monday.

According to Yang Huixin, spokesman of the Red Cross Society of China, medical teams from Germany, Japan, Italy and Russia have been accepted.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2008)