RAPID ACTION TAKEN IN CITY PAYS DIVIDENDS
Hospitals built at lightning speed proved vital
Editor’s note: Novel coronavirus pneumonia is posing a worldwide threat. Here, we take a look at how China is playing its role in the global fight against the outbreak by mobilizing a vast amount of resources. This is the eighth part of a series titled “United Actions”.
Building a 1,000-bed hospital in just 10 days to treat novel coronavirus patients in Wuhan, Hubei province, clearly impressed the host of a television show in the United States.
On Jan 28, Trevor Noah, who presents The Daily Show, told viewers: “Ten days to build a hospital! There’s no other country that can do anything that fast.”
Noah was referring to Huoshenshan Hospital, or Fire God Mountain Hospital, a specialized facility for patients infected with the virus. It occupies 25,000 square meters in the western suburbs of Wuhan, the city hardest hit by the virus on the Chinese mainland.
The project has been hailed as a “miracle” in China’s fight against the contagion, together with Leishenshan Hospital, or Thunder God Mountain Hospital, in the city’s Jiangxia district, which has 1,500 beds and was completed within 12 days.
Chen Weiguo, who headed construction of the two hospitals, said completing them in such a short time initially appeared to be “mission impossible”, but his team had worked at “record China speed”.
More than 34,000 workers from around the country, together with over 4,000 managers, worked round-the-clock in a race against time to build the hospitals to provide treatment for more patients, said Chen, president of State-owned China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co.
The makeshift facilities, modeled on Xiaotangshan Hospital in Beijing, which was built in a week during the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak in 2003, have played key roles in containing the outbreak in Wuhan.
At least 4,500 patients infected with the virus have been discharged from the two hospitals after they recovered, while a small number who are critically ill are still being treated at the facilities.
The decision to build the hospitals was taken as those in the city designated to treat patients with the virus became stretched to capacity in late January.
Shortly after the outbreak, huge numbers of patients in Wuhan flocked to hospitals, which were struggling to prevent medical workers being exposed to the virus. Many hospitals also said they were running short of protective equipment, and appealed to the public online for help.
With a lockdown enforced in Wuhan on Jan 23, and most businesses closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, transporting medical supplies became a problem.
Chen said, “The sooner we built the hospitals, the more patients would be saved — that’s what we were thinking about during construction.”
He recounted the first meeting he held for the project managers on Jan 24. He said he attempted to assess the human and material resources needed to build Huoshenshan Hospital, but found that because of the holiday, there was a problem in obtaining construction materials, machinery and other equipment.
In addition, most workers were not available as they had left Wuhan for the holiday, and suppliers had stopped shipments, Chen said.
Health officials overseeing the work said the facilities could be built quickly and at low cost by using portable prefabricated components. The emphasis was placed on speed and functionality.
“According to the project design, we needed at least 200 managerial staff, more than 10,000 workers, 1,800 container homes and 200plus machines. However, we could only mobilize less than one-third of the total requirements. How could we complete the task within 10 days?” Chen said.
On Jan 25, he was told he had an additional task — overseeing the building of Leishenshan Hospital, which placed him under greater pressure.
In the following days, Chen and his team overcame countless difficulties and challenges that appeared to be insurmountable. He said he experienced unprecedented physical and mental stress at the time, but both the central and local governments helped him mobilize resources needed for the projects.
“Every time we were on the brink of despair, we would emerge from our difficulties,” he said. “When we said we were working on novel coronavirus hospitals in Wuhan, workers, suppliers and transportation companies across the country gave us their support. As a result, construction workers and materials poured in.”
Higher standards
The two hospitals were built to higher technical standards, as they house the biggest intensive care units in Wuhan and are equipped with intelligent medical systems. Doctors from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, provided remote computerized tomography, or CT, consultations to help patients at both facilities, Chen said.
On Feb 2, medical personnel from the People’s Liberation Army took over Huoshenshan Hospital after it was completed, and six days later, medical workers from Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University took over Leishenshan Hospital.
Drawing on Xiaotangshan Hospital’s experience, the two facilities were equipped with segregated quarantine wards to minimize the risk of cross-infection. Medics at both hospitals followed a strict protocol for sterilization and handling contaminated waste, to avoid infection.
Summarizing the experience of building the two makeshift hospitals so quickly, Chen said it was the nation’s strong mobilization capability and “solidarity” among those involved that made it all possible.
“China’s institutional advantages guaranteed that we would succeed in building the hospitals in such a short time, creating a miracle at such a trying moment,” he said.
In addition to building specialized hospitals to provide more beds for infected patients, the central government mobilized medical workers nationwide to help Wuhan fight the virus.
More than 340 teams, comprising over 42,600 medical workers, rushed to the city in answer to a call made by the central government. The teams included at least 4,000 medical personnel from the PLA.
Wang Xinghuan, president of Leishenshan Hospital, said 3,202 medics from 286 hospitals throughout the country arrived at the facility to help treat critically ill patients infected with novel coronavirus pneumonia.
Recalling the onset of the outbreak, Wang, also president of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, said that before January, there were six pneumonia patients at this hospital, but doctors were not sure what had caused the disease.
However, Wang said medics were certain that one patient was linked to the Huanan Seafood Market, where the first case of novel coronavirus infection was found.
“We maintained our vigilance ... On Jan 3, we started to purchase protective gear, establish isolation wards, and asked our medical workers to strengthen protection,” he said.
On Jan 20, leading respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan told the media there was a risk of personto-person transmission from novel coronavirus pneumonia.
Wang was told to take charge of Leishenshan Hospital in early February. At the time, he was leading 50 medics to help the local government convert an exhibition hall into a temporary hospital to admit patients with mild symptoms of the disease.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was told of the mission, as I never imagined I would be given such an important but challenging task,” he said.
Wang made his first visit to the Leishenshan Hospital site in the morning on Feb 8, when he saw many workers busy with the project, but only two wards had been completed. However, that evening, the hospital started to admit patients.
“Although medics came from different provinces, we didn’t have any problems diagnosing and treating the patients. We all had the same goal — to save more lives and help more patients recover,” Wang said.
Managing Leishenshan Hospital was no easy task, but he tried to keep everything simple. “In managing a hospital with a large number of medics from different facilities, the best way is to help them when they have problems,” he said.
In addition to treating patients and saving more lives, Wang said challenges mainly arose from logistical support. He had to mobilize adequate resources for disease prevention and control work, and also ensure that the hospital ran smoothly.
He said maintenance workers from specialized companies made great efforts, even though they faced the risk of infection. They wore full protective gear, as they occasionally had to enter isolation wards, where they came into close contact with patients.
More than 1,000 volunteers also offered their services — helping medical staff members with sanitation work, sorting medical waste, and doing whatever they could to help others, Wang added.
“I was often moved by their dedication and unity. At a time when the country was suffering, they offered their services and braved the risk of infection. They are really great,” he said.
Situation improves
Thanks to stringent prevention and control measures, the situation in Wuhan continues to improve. Since March 18, only two cases of the disease have been confirmed in the city.
On March 26, Noah, The Daily
Show host, said on the program that the news from Wuhan was cause for hope, even as the pandemic worsened, particularly in Europe and the US.
“This shows that novel coronavirus can be beaten. All you need to do is wash your hands, keep social distancing and have a powerful government,” he said.
On March 31, Chinese authorities said the domestic spread of the virus — with Wuhan the main battlefield — had been “basically blocked” and epidemic control efforts had produced significant results.
On Wednesday, the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan was lifted, with inbound and outbound travel resuming and life gradually returning to normal.
However, people in the city have been warned of a recurrence of the outbreak, as there is a risk of transmission from asymptomatic patients, along with the chance of imported infections.
Wang Chen, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said there is still limited knowledge about the novel coronavirus, so people should never underestimate it or let down their guard.
Although medics came from different provinces, we didn’t have any problems diagnosing and treating the patients. We all had the same goal — to save more lives and help more patients recover.”
Wang Xinghuan, president of Leishenshan Hospital