Beijing med staff endured uncertainty

When Chang Zhigang, a doctor of critical medicine at Beijing Hospital, arrived at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan on Jan 26, he and his colleagues faced a difficult situation－a rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 patients, a severe shortage of beds, a lack of standard negative-pressure wards for treatment of infectious diseases and exhausted local doctors and nurses.

Patients were generally in a negative mood. Those who could not get admitted had fears they would not get treated and would infect their family members. For those lucky patients who were hospitalized, they generally lacked confidence in their recovery, Chang said.

"At that time, the number of new cases was rising quickly, but few were being cured and discharged from the hospital," he said.

"Meanwhile, medical workers were wearing thick isolation gowns, so many patients felt heavy psychological pressure realizing that they had an infectious disease."

Chang and his colleagues from Beijing Hospital were also tentative, unclear of the new disease and how it transmits.

Their feelings were exacerbated by the exponential increase of patients and a shortage of protective materials such as masks and isolation gowns.

Despite the difficulties and uncertainties, they immediately started to work with local medical staff to renovate wards, formulate infectious control procedures and test medical equipment.

Chang was one of the 151 medical workers dispatched in three groups by Beijing Hospital to help treat seriously ill COVID-19 patients at Tongji Hospital, a top hospital in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, during the height of the outbreak.

Wang Jianye, president of Beijing Hospital, said the first group of volunteers sent to Wuhan were mostly doctors in respiratory diseases, critical medicine and emergency medicine. Later groups consisted of doctors and nurses of various disciplines, including heart disease, radiation, digestion, cancer and the immune system.

Due to intensive care given by these doctors and nurses from Beijing, all but four of the 100 seriously ill patients were cured, Wang said.

Xu Xiaomao, a doctor in respiratory diseases and critical medicine at Beijing Hospital who was among the 151 volunteers, said the team members tried their best to treat patients under their charge.

"We used many kinds of antiviral drugs, drugs that can improve the immune system and nutrition supplements," he said.

Chang said the average age of the 100 patients received by medical workers from Beijing Hospital in Wuhan was above 60, which created more challenges for the staff.

"Elderly COVID-19 patients usually have other diseases … resulting in them being more likely to fall into dangerous situations," he said.

For example, Chang said one of the COVID-19 patients Chang and his colleagues received was a 92-year-old man who also had hypertension, diabetes and depression.

To cure the patient, he and his colleagues held a meeting every day to discuss treatment and put him under close observation, which led to his recovery, he said.

Within two months of the lockdown in Wuhan in late January, more than 42,000 medical workers from across China participated in the treatment of patients in the city, according to the National Health Commission, which greatly contributed to the containment of the outbreak there.

Xu, who has returned to Beijing, said he was proud to have participated in fighting the epidemic in Wuhan and was also moved by the compliance of epidemic control measures shown by residents.

"When I was in the streets of Wuhan, I saw that the city, with a population of more than 10 million, was suddenly motionless, except for occasional business vehicles. I was deeply touched," he said. "I want to applaud the residents of Wuhan for their strong sense of discipline."