Top medical team sent to treat Yiyi

BEIJING - Four experts specializing in neurosurgery, orthopaedics and rehabilitation have been dispatched by the Ministry of Health to Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province to help treat Yiyi, the 2-year-old girl who was the last survivor to be pulled from the fatal high-speed train crash on July 23.

The specialists, who will arrive in Wenzhou on Tuesday morning, will assess her post-operative condition and come up with a recovery program.

The ministry had already sent a team of top Chinese pediatric orthopedics specialists from Beijing and Zhejiang province to help with Yiyi's fifth operation, which was scheduled for Monday.

Buried in the wreckage for so long, Yiyi has suffered serious crush syndrome to her legs, which could leave her disabled.

"Crush syndrome is among the most serious injuries and the longer one has been buried the more likely it is that a person will suffer lifelong problems," Deng Jingcheng, who heads the pediatric orthopedics department of Capital Institute of Pediatrics told China Daily.

The ministry's response came after one of Yiyi's uncles posted an open letter to the Ministry of Railways online late on Sunday, asking for more attention and improved medical treatment for the girl who was rescued about 22 hours after the trains collided.

"There has been too much suffering for her at such a young age and she needs her legs in good shape," said Xiang Yuyu in his micro blog.

He called on the government to send in a team of experts to help her regain full use of her legs.

"We have to make sure that in the future we can say to her that we really tried our best," he said in the letter which was widely circulated among netizens.

Xiang told the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily that he posted the letter because "the accident management group of the Ministry of Railways never contacted us about Yiyi's condition after the crash".

However, Cai Xuebin of the accident management group told the paper that they contacted the hospital for an update on Yiyi's situation every day.