Sichuan might need up to five years to rebuild its health care system after last month's earthquake, a team of experts from the World Health Organisation says.
The WHO also urged the mainland to ensure that its hospitals could withstand disasters. The extent of the damage to the province's health care system was still being assessed.
Team leader Jose Luis Zeballos, of the WHO-Pan American Health Organisation, was speaking on Friday in Beijing about their visit to the disaster zone in Sichuan province from June 13 to 16.
'For the rebuilding of hospitals, we would like to see China take the lead in committing itself to the UN/WHO concept of 'Hospitals Safe from Disasters'.
'This means building hospitals that not only withstand the impact of a disaster, but are still functional immediately after the disaster. This saves lives in the hospital itself, but also allows it to care for the injured,' he said.
Dr Zeballos added that it was not expensive to build such hospitals if they were designed right.