Shanghai's best female doctors honored ahead of International Women's Day

Ti Gong

There are about 50,000 female doctors in Shanghai, amounting for almost half of the total. Female doctors have taken an important role not only in clinical service but also in scientific innovation, and the Shanghai Female Doctor's Association and the Shanghai Health Commission honored 13 of them as this year's best female doctors ahead of International Women's Day on Friday.

The association also announced achievement awards for eight elderly female doctors for their long-term dedication to the local health industry and their status as role models in encouraging more young woman to become involved and seek to improve the health field.

Female doctors often make more effort than a male, as the women are not only doctors, but mothers, daughters, and wives at the same time. While being a medical professional, they also have to shoulder a strong responsibility to their families. "So honoring female doctors can have very significant meaning," said Sun Bin, honorary chairwoman of the Shanghai Female Doctor's Association.

Dr Li Ruogu from Shanghai Chest Hospital was judged one of the best female doctors this year. She works on the front lines of complicated heart disease treatment and has completed over 600 high-end interventional cardiac surgeries, including the world's first pacemaker implantation for a patient with perivalvular leakage.

Ti Gong

She also created many safe and effective treatment plans for patients that were included into national guidelines.

During the pandemic, Li set up the city's first post-implantation monitoring system for patients with pacemakers to achieve remote supervision and management. This heart failure prevention and control system has been widely adopted by many leading hospitals in the nation and promoted in some grassroots community hospitals to enhance the response to patients with heart problems, and improve patients' quality of life. The system has benefited more than 100,000 patients.