China has sent 21 medical teams with 363 members to the northwestern county of Zhouqu after it was devastated by a massive mudslide early Sunday, a Health Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Spokesman Deng Haihua told a press conference doctors are treating patients and sterilizing the environment and drinking water, adding that food safety is being ensured and corpses are being properly handled.

The doctors are doing their best to perform surgery on the seriously injured, he added.

The ministry and military and civil aviation authorities are arranging for the transfer of the injured out of Zhouqu to places with better-equipped hospitals in Gansu Province, Deng added.

Some 117 people had been transferred out of Zhouqu County Hospital as of 5 p.m. Monday. Four of them were in critical conditions and 25 were in serious conditions.

A field medical team was established in Zhouqu Sunday afternoon hours after the mudslide, Deng said. The team consists of four sub teams responsible for medical treatment, epidemic prevention, liaison, and collection of supplies, respectively.

Meanwhile, the State Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it has ordered the enhanced supervision for the safety of drugs, medical equipment and food in Zhouqu.

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