Doctor released from epidemic containment to perform emergency surgery

Local authorities in Qingdao, Shandong province have made a contingency plan to allow a doctor under temporary lockdown measures for COVID-19 containment to perform an emergency surgery in-person on Wednesday, local media reported.

Dong Qian, a veteran pediatrician from the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, recently had a surgery appointment for a three-year old patient. However the doctor was not able to attend at first because his residential area was unexpectedly listed as a risk area in the city's coronavirus outbreak.

The doctor expressed his worries about the child's health on his personal social media account and the message was later seen by local community workers.

The workers said they hadn't known the doctor had such an emergency and made him aware of contingency plans for those in special circumstances, adding he could contact the hospital to find a reasonable solution.

According to a review by an expert panel, the window of the surgery was only three to five days. The local authority developed a plan for Dong to perform the surgery in-person, which he did on Wednesday.

The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University said the hospital has contingency plans for every patient in a critical situation and takes the potential impact of anti-epidemic measures on patients into account.

Previously, there had not been any case in which patients could not get treatment due to anti-epidemic measures, the hospital added.

As of Wednesday at noon, the city of Qingdao has reported a total of 38 locally confirmed COVID-19 cases and 158 asymptomatic carriers, according to the official WeChat account of the Qingdao municipal health commission.