HK doctor answers call of duty again
ICU specialist who battled 2003 SARS outbreak stayed in Shenzhen to help coronavirus fight
“It was a very gloomy time,” said Hong Kong doctor Chak Kwan Tong of the city’s battle against severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.
Tong was working around the clock at the intensive care unit of Hong Kong’s Princess Margaret Hospital, while trying to take care of two children on her own as her husband was overseas on business.
The hospital was admitting all confirmed SARS patients and the capacity of the ICU had increased from 12 to 42 beds in a few days, with limited manpower to treat the patients. “Nobody wants to repeat that experience,” Tong said.
However, 17 years later she is battling another epidemic after moving to the University of Hong KongShenzhen Hospital in 2015.
The hospital was designated to treat suspected novel coronavirus infections in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. The sickest patients are sent to the ICU, which Tong supervises.
Her experience fighting SARS has been invaluable. Tong has trained her colleagues in prevention and control measures and how to devise an emergency plan to cope with a possible outbreak in the city.
“We not only practice how to put on and take off protective items correctly, but also how to handle highrisk suspected patients while ensuring medics’ safety,” Tong said.
She concedes: “Like everyone else, with the uncertainty about the infection, I am also scared of novel coronavirus infection.”
Into the breach
However, Tong could have chosen not to place herself on the front line on the Chinese mainland.
On Feb 8, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government imposed a compulsory 14-day quarantine on those who had visited the mainland.
Tong had been working in Shenzhen during the day and returning to her Hong Kong home at night.
Her family suggested she work remotely from home under the quarantine policy.
However, Tong said she followed her heart and has stayed in Shenzhen since Feb 10, promising her family that she would protect herself.
She began by preparing the hospital’s ICU for possible admissions and a surge in critically ill patients.
“I had to take care of the patients. I couldn’t leave my patients and colleagues at this critical time. It’s my duty,” she said.
More than 20 of her Hong Kong colleagues working at the hospital made the same decision and they have remained in Shenzhen since Feb 10.
Tong has a tight schedule and starts work before 8 am. She examines and treats critically ill patients in the ICU, discusses operational issues and attends the daily handover.
Xu Xiaoping, secretary of the Party committee of the hospital, said Tong was recruited as a member of Guangdong’s expert team at the beginning of the outbreak.
“Tong’s invaluable experience in fighting SARS helps us a lot in fighting the novel coronavirus,” Xu said.
Well qualified
Tong graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1990 and her interest in infectious diseases led her to do further studies and obtain a master’s degree in the area.
She has undergone training in other clinical areas related to intensive care including: resuscitation; trauma; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; ultrasound examinations; aeromedical transport; and simulation training.
In 2017, she led a team that cured a 26-year-old patient who had lost lung function due to a cold, using ECMO support.
It was the first time a patient in Shenzhen had been treated with an ECMO machine, which can temporarily perform the job of the lungs while they recover.
Du Qian, a doctor who participated in the 2017 treatment, said Tong had prepared them well for the new technology.
“Before we used ECMO to treat patients, Doctor Tong sent medical staff members in the ICU to receive training in Hong Kong,” Du said. “She also led mock drills and fully prepared medical staff members to use the machine.”
ECMO is an effective way to treat critically ill novel coronavirus patients. However, medical workers are at high risk of being infected if they cannot precisely connect a big tube to one of the patient’s veins.
About half of the suspected patients in the Shenzhen hospital’s ICU were confirmed to have the coronavirus.
No medical staff member has become infected, she added.
Du, who has worked with Tong for three years said she is very professional, constantly updates her knowledge and shares it with her colleagues.
Tong, who recently visited her family for the first time in six weeks, has urged people overseas to selfisolate during the pandemic.
“The epidemic control in China was efficient with a clear goal — curb the virus spread by quarantine,” she said. “I hope to stroll outside without wearing a face mask when the virus is defeated.”
I didn’t expect to get a job through my cellphone. I’m satisfied with the post and salary they offered me.” Zhu Fei,
With government support, many companies have conducted job interviews online after the cancellation of job fairs to avoid mass gatherings.
Deng Shubing, recruitment director of the Chinese sportswear group Li Ning, said the company plans to recruit 1,300 production-line workers this year. The goal is now 90 percent achieved. “Over 80 percent of applicants were recruited online, either through online job fairs held by the human resources departments in Nanning or through the video-sharing app TikTok,” Deng said.
She added the recruitment, in collaboration with local government, enables the company to easily find the workers they need.
As of March 19, the human resources and social security departments in Guangxi had held 850 online job fairs and posted more than 1.5 million jobs for 28,573 enterprises through websites, mobile apps and the social media platform WeChat.
Online information about jobs in the public service sector for those struggling to gain employment is also offered.
An online job fair was held by Nanning’s human resources and social security bureau last week, with jobs such as driver and security guard provided for those who have difficulty finding work, said Wei Yudan, a bureau official.