Medical heroes step up to serve their country

Doctors and nurses from across Shanxi volunteering to help fight infections in Hubei province

On Jan 23, a day before Lunar New Year's Eve, Liu Ping, a doctor in Shanxi province, went to bed at 10 pm. After a day in the operating theater, she felt tired. She didn't know her husband, Wang Junping, also a local doctor, had made a big decision.

Wang, 58, told Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital where he works, that he wanted to join the local medical assistance team to help prevent and control the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province.

As head of the gastroenterology department, Wang was not on the list. But he insisted, saying: "Let me go. I am old. It's a waste not to share my decades of experience."

Wang had headed the Shanxi emergency medical rescue team to help in the outbreak of SARS in 2003 and the H7N9 bird flu, which was discovered in 2013. In 2010, he provided treatment at 2,000 meters underground, where about 150 miners were trapped in an accident.

In the early morning of Jan 24, Liu saw a suitcase at the door. She knew this day would come, but didn't expect it would be so soon. She decided to make him dumplings.

"I didn't get any firsthand information, but I think the outbreak is, in many aspects, similar to SARS," said Wang at the family reunion dinner later that day. For most of the evening, Wang talked about the epidemic. "Self-protection is most important. My experience is to wear a face mask whenever you visit a patient."

By that time, Wang's hospital had received a lot of patients and he was in the expert group. Both his daughter and son-in-law are doctors.

On Jan 29, following two days of training, Wang put on protective garments and walked into the suspected infection ward of Xiantao Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Xiantao city, Hubei province.

Liu's daughter asked whether she would go to Hubei as well, to which Liu said she had already applied and will go if needed.

In January, when the novel coronavirus outbreak gained prominence in Hubei, a massive number of patients, confirmed and suspected with the virus, streamed into hospitals. This caused a shortage of medical staff and supplies.

Shanxi province, in accordance with the arrangement of the central government, called on local medical workers to join a medical assistance team to Hubei. Several hours after the Health Commission of Shanxi province released the initiative, applications flooded in from different cities.

On Jan 26, the first batch of 137 doctors and nurses from 35 local hospitals set off to Wuhan, capital of Hubei. Together they vowed to "use their lives to guard lives in Hubei" at the airport in Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital city.

Hao Haihu, one of the team members, from Shanxi Bethune Hospital, studied for three years at the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. He signed up once he read the news. "I feel honored to be selected for the team. I hope to ease pain for more patients."

His colleague, Zhang Lixin who is also in the team, said her parents and two children didn't know where she would go and what she would do on the "business trip". "I told my eldest child: 'Mommy is going to fight the virus. I will return after we defeat it.'"

The team was divided into two; one to treat virus-infected patients in critical condition, one to treat ordinary patients. They headed for Xiantao, Tianmen and Qianjiang after arriving in Wuhan at midnight.

Zhang Luyan, a respiratory doctor from the People's Hospital of Yuci District and 41 other medical staff members were sent to Qianjiang.

She wrote in a WeChat message: "People often don't want their loved ones to take a risk. But this is a mission given by our country. Thank you for your concern. I feel inspired when seeing Hubei people warmly welcome us with applause."

Zhang's father, a retired teacher, said he supported her daughter's decision. "It's a good time to pay back the country and the people."

When the medical sub-team arrived in Xiantao, they found flowers at the building where they would be living. They were given by a nearby flower store to show thanks.

Pan Hongwei, general manager of Wushang Xiantao Shopping Center, said: "Their spirit of sacrifice despite the danger is very moving."

The mall sent to them 57 down jackets, 20 boxes of instant noodles, 20 boxes of water and 10 boxes of milk, all donated by merchants.

On Jan 30, four veterans in Qianjiang rode bikes to deliver two boxes of face masks and a box of protective clothing to the team from Shanxi. The city has banned private cars to prevent and control the outbreak.

When the city of Wuhan announced a lockdown on Jan 23, it was followed by most of the other cities in Hubei. The operation of airlines, trains, buses and subways in the city all closed. And the number of confirmed cases has risen.

Despite this, doctors and nurses from Shanxi, as well as other places in China, have chosen to fight in the epicenter, making their contributions to local disease prevention and control.

A second batch of 119 doctors and nurses from Shanxi reached Wuhan on Feb 2. The third team is in place and ready to go if needed, according to the local government.

Li Yu and Wang Jixia contributed to the story.