SCIO briefing on frontline medical workers' expertise on COVID-19 treatment
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 7, 2020
Xi Yanchun:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good afternoon. Welcome to today’s briefing. Since the epidemic broke out, China has waged a united battle against the coronavirus with the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough measures. Thanks to these arduous efforts, China has produced visible progress. Recently, my colleagues and I have received a lot of questions and interview requests concerning China’s response to COVID-19. In order to help you have a better understanding, today we’ve invited four experts who have participated in the frontline treatment work in Wuhan.
Let me present them to you: Professor and Doctor Du Bin, director of the Medical ICU, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Ms. Qiao Jie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and president of Peking University Third Hospital; Mr. Cao Bin, vice-president of China-Japan Friendship Hospital; and Mr. Li Haichao, vice-president of Peking University First Hospital.
In today’s briefing, we have set up special arrangements for foreign correspondents in Beijing to ask questions to the experts in Wuhan, with 5G connected telecommunications. The entire session will be conducted in English.
We will open from short introductions by the experts. First, let us invite Professor and Doctor Du Bin, please.
Du Bin:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, I am Dr. Du Bin, or Bin Du – either is fine. I’m from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. I came here to Wuhan on Jan. 18, and have been working here since then. As a member of the national expert team, the responsibility of me and my colleagues is to review every individual case of people who are critically ill with COVID-19. We then discuss treatment plans with physicians, as well as provide feedback and suggestions to local and national healthcare authorities about treatment strategies and other coping strategies to fight against COVID-19. Thank you.
Xi Yanchun:
Thank you, Professor Du. Next, let’s invite Ms. Qiao Jie, please.
Qiao Jie:
I’m Professor Qiao Jie from the Peking University Third Hospital. Peking University Third Hospital is one of the top university hospitals and also a public hospital directly under the National Health Commission of China. At noon of Feb. 1, I received an instruction to travel to Wuhan as soon as possible. I left Beijing and arrived at Wuhan at 9 p.m. the same day. As the leader of this special task team, my responsibility was to organize doctors, nurses and supporting professionals to establish a new ICU ward. One day later, on Feb. 3, we successfully completed our preparations and were ready to serve and save lives. We have tried with our every effort to increase the treatment and cure rate, while reducing the rate of infection and mortality for severe COVID-19 patients.
For this mission, we, together with Peking University, and three top-ranking comprehensive hospitals, set up a task force of 90 doctors and 360 nurses, and I'm the chief. We provide medical services at the Sino-French New City Branch of Tongji Hospital. Wuhan has more than 11,000 beds for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients in its hospitals, including this one.
As you may be aware, I’m also the director of the National Center for Healthcare Quality Management in Obstetrics. So, I also have responsibility to survey the infection of pregnant women, guarantee delivery procedures, and prevent mother-baby vertical transmission.
So, I’m here and ready to answer your questions. Thank you.
Xi Yanchun:
Thank you very much, Professor Qiao. Professor Cao Bin, it’s your turn.
Cao Bin:
Thank you. Good afternoon, my name is Cao Bin. I’m a pulmonary physician, who focuses on respiratory tract infections. During the last 20 years, I have experienced the SARS pandemic, H1N1, and human infections caused by H5N1 and H7N9. We also have cases of adenovirus pneumonia. Today, we have another coronavirus infection: COVID-19.
I have been working in Wuhan for around two months. I have been proud to be a doctor and researcher working with my colleagues during this time. We have left our families, but we are honored. We have been working day and night, but we are honored. We are honored because we can help. China has encountered many disasters during its long history. So, again, I’m sure we can overcome this coronavirus, just as we have done previous times.
I would like to share a poem with you all. The poem was written about 3,000 years ago. I believe that everyone in this room, in Wuhan, and in China can be moved and motivated by this poem. The poem is actually a battle song.
(Cao Bin reads a poem in Chinese)
The name of the poem is “If you have no clothes.” I will share with you a brief translation.
If you have no clothes,
my brother,
I will share with you.
If you have no food,
my brother,
I will share with you.
If you have problems, if you have an illness,
my brother,
I will always be together with you.
Today, I would like to salute every nurse and doctor, for their contribution, especially those who have lost their lives. Thank you.
Xi Yanchun:
Thank you very much, Professor Cao Bin. I’m sure your words represent how all of the doctors feel. So, thank you very much. Lastly, Professor Li Haichao, please.
Li Haichao:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, I’m Dr. Li Haichao from Peking University First Hospital. I arrived in Wuhan together with the third batch of the medical team from Peking University. I joined my colleagues who came here earlier and I am responsible for the treatment of critically ill patients in a ward of Tongji Hospital.
I have worked with Professor Qiao in the same building. I am a pulmonologist, and I had taken part in the SARS treatment in Beijing in 2003. I believe, because of my specialty and the experience of SARS, it might be helpful for me to fight against the new coronavirus.
The team of our hospital consists of 135 members, among which 30 are doctors who specialize in respiratory and critical care medicine, intensive care medicine, some other disciplines of internal medicine, infectious disease and thoracic surgery. We have two experts of infection control and one staff member in charge of logistic support and communication. We also have 102 nurses, some of whom have very good experience in respiratory and surgical intensive care units.
Until now, we have admitted 63 patients into our new ward. Fortunately, most of them have been discharged. Today, we only have 10 patients left in our ward, and all of them are in the recovery period. I believe that they will be discharged in the near future.
So, I’m very glad to be here to share my understanding about COVID-19 and my experience. Thank you.
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