Another group of Shanghai heroes returns from Wuhan
A group of 136 medics from Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital returned home from Wuhan on Wednesday.
The medical team arrived in Wuhan, the hardest-hit area of the coronavirus outbreak in China, on February 7. The group took responsibility for two intensive care units at the east branch of Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University. The team treated a total of 152 COVID-19 patients in 55 days and 119 of them have recovered.
The team caught the public's attention after a photo of Wang Xin, an 87-year-old COVID-19 patient, watching the sunset with Zhongshan doctor Liu Kai went viral on social media in early March.
Wang, a former violinist with the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra and a professor with Wuhan Conservatory of Music, played the violin in his ward to bid farewell to the Shanghai medics.
"I can think normally and play violin now, though not so well yet. I feel grateful to doctors and nurses from Shanghai," said the patient, who had been in serious condition due to his infection.
On March 5, Dr Liu and volunteer Gan Junchao wheeled Wang, who had been hospitalized for about a month, to undergo a CT scan at Renmin hospital. The doctor noticed the sunset as they returned to the ward and suggested they pause to enjoy it. Wang agreed and the volunteer took a picture of the pair bathed in golden light.
Zhongshan Hospital hung a gigantic poster of the picture at the hospital in Shanghai on March 12 to inspire its medical staff.
"Thanks to strong support from Shanghai, we feel like we never left our hometown," said Zhu Chouwen, vice president of the hospital and leader of the medical team.
The hospital used 5G communication technology to offer remote medical consultation to their colleagues in Wuhan. Academicians such as Dr Ge Junbo, chief physician of the hospital’s cardiac division, and Dr Fan Jia, president of the hospital, offered suggestions and guidelines to the medical team from Shanghai and northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
With joint effort, the Shanghai team helped develop principles to treat COVID-19 cases. It also introduced modern nursing standards to treat patients in serious condition.
The clinic experience of treating COVID-19 has been recorded and made into public lectures to share with medical professionals around the globe, according to the hospital. The information covers epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, disease diagnosis and various treatment methods.
Zhong Ming, an intensive care expert at the hospital, remained in Wuhan to keep fighting against the virus. Zhong was the first medical expert to rush to Wuhan alone on January 23.
China Eastern Airlines' MU9004 charter flight with the returning medical team landed at the Hongqiao airport at 11:53am on Wednesday.
A China Eastern mechanic, Di Haiguo, waited on the tarmac for his wife, Xi Huan, a nurse with Zhongshan Hospital and a member of the medical team. He presented a bouquet of flowers to Xi right after she got off the plane.
"I had prepared lots of words, but could remember nothing after I saw you," Di told his wife.
Over 32,000 doctors and nurses from all over China who helped fight the pandemic in Hubei went home on 235 chartered flights between March 17 and 31, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.
None of the more than 40,000 medical workers, including 1,649 from Shanghai, dispatched to Hubei tested positive for the virus, according to the National Health Commission.