Shanghai medics spend Chinese Doctor's Day on anti-pandemic frontlines
Medics from Shanghai conduct nucleic acid testing in Hainan.
Shanghai medics are sparing no efforts to support the anti-pandemic campaigns in Hainan and the Tibet Autonomous Region, a perfect celebration of China's Doctor's Day on Friday.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak hit Hainan and Tibet, Shanghai has dispatched batches of medics to support nucleic acid testing, makeshift hospital management and patient care.
Dr Ma Xiaowei from Renji Hospital leads 38 medics in Haikou to carry out nucleic acid testing. Their target is to collect 10,000 to 20,000 samples each day.
"Different from Shanghai, sample collecting in Hainan takes much longer time. We work from 8am to 8pm," Ma said.
"As there is no access for vehicles to reach some rural areas, our medics drive mopeds to do sample collecting.
"Our major targets are local residents, some of whom can't speak Mandarin so local volunteers help us," Ma said.
A medic from Renji Hospital collects a sample from a rural elderly woman in Hainan.
Hainan volunteers deliver ice blocks to sample collection sites to help cool medics operating in the heat.
"It is very hot wearing protective uniforms while doing sample collecting," Ma added.
"Local residents and volunteers are very warm-hearted and prepared fans and ice cubes for us. We also run a detailed staff management plan to ensure each team member has enough rest and avoids heatstroke," he said.
A Hainan volunteer poses with a Shanghai medic at a nucleic acid sample collection site.
Renji Hospital's Dr Tao Tao, working at No. 3 makeshift hospital in Sanya, is one of the 504-member medical team dispatched to the city by Shanghai on Sunday.
"The makeshift hospital wasn't fully ready when we arrived but we managed to conduct a strict disinfection and infection-control measures," Tao said.
"We received the first batch of patients on Monday and by 6am the next morning the B2 section of our hospital had received 217 patients," she said.
"After finishing the patient registration and reception procedures, all medics were soaked in sweat. Some of them had an allergy or diarrhea. But each medic stuck to his or her job after taking simple treatments," she said.
Tao said she had almost forgotten the special Doctor's Day during the busy schedule. "I asked all my team members to take a photo outside the makeshift hospital for the special day. It is a special memory for all of us," she said.
Renji medics work in a section of No. 3 makeshift hospital in Sanya.
Medics from Renji Hosptial take a photo outside their makeshift hospital for Chinese Doctor's Day.
Dr Deng Yuhai from Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine works at the No. 4 makeshift hospital in Sanya.
As a doctor, who have served in Wuhan, two makeshift hospitals in Shanghai and at the Public Health Clinical Center, Deng has worked in different epicenters during the anti-pandemic battle.
Deng said the No. 4 makeshift hospital was fully occupied 12 hours after it started to accept patients, including nearly 200 children.
"We are bringing experience from Shanghai to Hainan and introducing a therapy combining Western and traditional Chinese medicine to achieve better results for Hainan patients," he said.
Medics from Yueyang Hospital help to prepare their makeshift hospital.
Compared with hot Hainan, medics face more physical challenges in Tibet due to the oxygen deficit and high altitude.
Dr Xia Siwei from Putuo District Disease Control and Prevention Center said he arrived at Shigatse last Friday with an expert of Shanghai pandemic prevention and control team.
He said his major task was to help local government to develop nucleic acid screening plans, offer training to sample collecting staff and help design new local central quarantine spots.
He also helped Shigatse People's Hospital to improve its infection control measures to guard the safety of both patients and medics. He also helped local CDC to do epidemiological investigations.
Shanghai experts said the city's medical resources were different from Shigatse's, so it was impossible to directly apply all Shanghai operational and learning experiences.
They will cooperate with local professionals to work out an anti-pandemic operation to help COVID-19 control in Tibet.
