National Red Cross issues instruction to Wuhan branch

A work team dispatched by the Red Cross Society of China to Wuhan, epicenter of the novel coronavirus, urged the society's Wuhan branch to establish a daily report mechanism for donated supplies.

A new column has been open on a local news app to disclose detailed information, according to a notice released on its official website.

Personnel from the Sichuan and Jiangsu branches will also be assigned to support the work in Hubei province, the notice said.

The new measures came after the society's Hubei provincial branch and Wuhan city branch were blamed for low efficiency in handing out donated medical supplies to hospitals in dire need of supplies, such as face masks and goggles.

To investigate and solve the problems reflected by the public about improperlydealing with donations, the Red Cross Society of China dispatched a work team to Wuhan on Feb 1, according to the notice.

The team has visited warehouses handling emergency supplies for preventing and controlling the epidemic and logistics repositories in Hubei to learn the reception and distribution of supplies.

It also went to Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Huoshenshan Hospital, a makeshift hospital built to treat NCP patients, to supervise the allocation of donations, stressing information transparency and the proper use of donated supplies.

Liang Huiling, team leader and Party chief of the Red Cross Society of China, urged local authorities to increase allocation efficiency and disclose donation information in an accurate and timely manner.

Those who violate the rules would be severely punished, according to the notice.