RM1.2 million. That was the amount collected from generous Malaysians in a six-month-long campaign by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) after the May 12, 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province.

The sum is enough to rebuild 10 village health stations, the Malaysian equivalent of a klinik desa, which had been reduced to heaps of rubble.

The stations around the Luojiang County, Deyang prefecture, are expected to serve more than 35,000 people in the villages and will complement the existing two township clinics.

This may seem like a drop in the ocean compared with Chinese efforts at reconstruction after the tragedy.

The quake destroyed an area bigger than the land mass of Malaysia and more than five million homes.

The funds raised by MRCS may seem like chump change next to the total bill of RM520 billion for reconstruction, announced by the Chinese government recently.

Still, whatever contribution made to the victims of the disaster will go a long way towards giving them a new lease on life, especially when it comes to obtaining healthcare.

The project will tear down the old village health stations damaged by the earthquake and build new ones on the same site.

For example, on one of the sites in the Ming Yue (translated into "bright moon") village sits a derelict building which houses such a station, one with a large gaping crack on the wall from the ground up to the roof.

Village health officer Wu Chongming sees up to 1,500 people in his clinic, charging each person the equivalent of only 50 sen a year for the most fundamental remedies, usually for the common cold, cough or fever.

Despite the crack and a roof practically held together by a flimsy plastic sheet, Wu continues to operate from the one-storey building, which the local municipality has condemned and declared unsafe.

A practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, herbal remedies packed into pills were scattered on Wu's table.

"This is for indigestion, this is a kind of painkiller and this is for headaches," said Wu, pointing at each of the bottles.

The building looked like it could crumble with a mere kick. Wasn't Wu afraid the building would fall on his head or that of his patients?

He said there was little choice considering that there were no other buildings in which to practise medicine and the health station service had to carry on.

"This station covers a 4km radius. The closest hospital is nearly two hours' drive away. Of course, people will still come to see me here," he said.

An official with the Red Cross Society of China, Li Lidong, said the first two weeks after the earthquake were considered the emergency period. Reconstruction only started in November last year, with a liaison and coordination period in between.

"Still, we have to act fast from now onwards with the reconstruction of the village hospitals to ensure the health of the rural folk is well taken care of."

Despite the long wait for reconstruction, village health officers like Wu are excited about the new station that is to replace the old one.

Each station is designed by the various giant corporations in China and illustrious design academies in the republic, including students from the prestigious Tsinghua University, touted as the best university in China.

The budget for the construction of each station is RM58,000. The building itself will cost 60 per cent of the total amount pledged, with the remaining money used for training of station staff and other expenses.

The Sichuan chapter of the MRCS will be directly monitoring the construction process, with officials from the MRCS "dropping in" once in a while to check on the progress.

MRCS national disaster ma-nagement committee chair- man Dr S. Selva Jothi said the contractors were given nine months to complete the project, although his Chinese counterparts were optimistic about having the stations ready for service in just five months.

"After building the clinics, we still want to help out with their training on disaster response, public health and refresher courses for the village health officers.

"China helped us during the 2004 tsunami. It is only fair that we help them now in their time of need," he said.