No holiday for the doctors from Shanghai

Editor's note:

Many Shanghai medical workers are already in or on their way to support Wuhan, a city now severely stricken by the novel coronavirus outbreak. They are called "the most beautiful people who are going in the reverse direction than most others" by the public. They are combating the new epidemic on the frontline to protect people in the nation. Some of them shared their work experience in Wuhan with Shanghai Daily.

Ti Gong

Wednesday should have been the day before the end of the Spring Festival holiday, but that has now been extended for 10 more days because of the coronavirus crisis.

But for one group of people, it's not a longer holiday but a non-stop frontline fight against the disease.

It's the fifth day that Zha Qiongfang, a doctor at Shanghai’s Renji Hospital, and her colleagues have been helping to treat patients in Wuhan, epicenter of the current crisis. They were one of the first medical teams sent from Shanghai to the Hubei Province capital.

On Wednesday morning, sunshine broke up the heavy cover of clouds for the first time since their arrival, something Zha believed as a "good omen."

She recalled, two days before, the team’s arrival at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital to find medical staff having a rough time with little facilities. Since there were no white lab coats, everyone, no matter their gender, had to wear a nurse’s uniform. Seeing people of different sizes try to fit into these skinny clothes was one of the few occasions they saw smiles on everyone’s faces.

The Shanghai team were soon hard at work. There were 29 patients in a critical condition in intensive care units, reliant on machines to breathe. Zha was told that one critical patient had died the night before.

Zha's team was put in charge of 10 patients in three intensive care units. One was begging them to save his life. Besides learning about the patients' conditions, the medics also calmed them down and adjusted parameters on their breathing machines.

After a ward round, they made some adjustments to treatments after consultation with the nurses. To save time, they took as few breaks as possible to eat and drink. 

On Tuesday, Premier Li Keqiang visited the hospital but Zha was on duty and couldn't meet him. 

She was gaining confidence as medical supplies flooded into Wuhan. But the number of critical patients was also growing.

After their ward round the doctors reported the patients' condition to their families, during which they had a glimpse into different sides of the society. There was one person who hoped to be with a partner without fear of infection; there were family members who decided to give up further treatment, possibly increasing the patient’s discomfort; and there were some complaining to the hospital over little things like patients having to turn off their cellphones and losing contact with them. 

On Wednesday morning, Zha helped with the arrangement of supplies from all over the country, including medical items and those for daily use. The first batch of supplies she received was from her colleagues at Renji Hospital, mainly daily necessities and some drugs. The colleagues, who learned that it was very cold in Wuhan, also sent them some warm clothes and heating pads.

The other batch of supplies were donations from ordinary people. Zha said that, just after she arrived in Wuhan, she received a call from a colleague about one of her patients who wanted to donate masks and goggles. The patient’s donated items were among the supplies. 

Zha said she had received many calls from people in different fields in Shanghai offering help.

Some medics in the team had health problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure and she had kidney problems. Despite that, they were working round the clock to care for their patients. The support shown by others helped their resolve. 

Ti Gong