Emergency sectors still on alert after the peak of COVID infection
After the current round of coronavirus infection, the proportion of patients with heart attack and stroke and other medical emergencies began to rise, said local hospitals.
The number of patients with respiratory diseases are dropping, while emergency departments are receiving more patients with negative events of heart, brain or emergencies due to tumors.
Officials from Shanghai's Xinhua Hospital said they've been receiving patients with heart attacks on a daily basis.
"We're receiving two cases each day, on average. Middle-aged people and the elderly should be more aware and must not confuse symptoms of medical emergency with post-COVID complications, missing timely diagnosis and treatment," said Dr Tang Lujia from Xinhua's emergency department.
Tang said she received a 41-year-old man complaining about heart sickness. A checkup found it was a heart attack, and doctors conducted an emergency surgery.
Doctors said many residents worry about the risks of COVID-related pneumonia, while ignoring cerebrocardiovascular diseases, which are in peak season in winter.
Dr Ge Xiaoli said some recovered COVID-19 patients confuse their symptoms like chest pain and sickness with normal symptoms of pneumonia and failed to go to hospital in time.
Doctors from Xinhua Hospital conduct emergency surgery to open the blocked heart artery on the 41-year-old patient.
"There are various reasons for chest pain. It's important to visit the doctor for a professional diagnosis. People with underlying diseases like hypertension and diabetes must be especially alert," Ge said.
Doctors from Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine announced the success of a surgery on a 84-year-old patient with extremely narrow airways due to thyroid tumor, the hospital said on Friday.
The airway is only one-10th of the standard size, seriously impacting the patient's respiration. The woman was in a coma due to a lack of oxygen.
Dr Chen Tongyu led an emergency international surgery to install a stent to reopen the blocked airway. The patient is recovering well.
All emergency departments of local hospitals keep operation during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, which starts on Saturday.
Doctors from Yueyang hospital operate on an 84-year-old woman's narrow airways.
