TV series on emergency medical care captures real-life drama
It is like the 1990s’ long-running American TV series ER, but the emergency room is moveable. And, everything that happens in the series is real — no script and no acting.
On Call 120, a documentary-based TV show on pre-hospital emergency medicine, follows ambulances in Shanghai.
The series is named On Call 120, as 120 is the emergency telephone number for medical services on the Chinese mainland.
The 12-episode show was premiered on Monday on Shanghaibased Dragon TV. Each episode is 72 minutes long, and the crew follows three ambulances to record their daily activities.
Li Jing, the chief director of On Call 120, says the aim of the series is to focus on Healthy China 2030, a national guide for public health careers released by the central government.
Li says more than 500 “missions” were recorded in three months of shooting, and 72 stories were finally included in the TV show.
She says the show not only reflects the medical practitioners’ lives and their devotion to duty but also promotes medical knowledge.
“We also wanted to show people’s values as well as their attitude to life and death,” she says.
“We did not want to deliberately arouse emotions. But we wanted to reflect a positive energy with the true picture.”
Some stories have happy endings, others not so.
Ouyang Guoqing, the executive director and chief cameraman of the show, says he was shocked by one of the cases when a patient who looked relatively stable suddenly died.
“The patient walked into the ambulance, and I thought there was nothing seriously wrong with him.
“However, things soon took a turn for the worse after we arrived at the hospital. I was dumbfounded when his life just ended in front of me.
“I was sad for a long time, and so were the doctors.
“But I later understood that the best way for medical practitioners to respect life is to get fully devoted to their next mission.”
Sometimes, the situation was too urgent for the crew to inform the patients or their families that they were being filmed for a TV show, but Li says every story that features in the final production came with the families’ consent.
It took the crew six months of observation to select nine front-line medical practitioners — eight male and one female — from more than 1,000 people, for the show.
In the show these “idols” have a tough life. Each of their shift typically lasts 12 hours, during which time an ambulance undertakes 13 to 15 missions.
In most cases, the medical practitioners with the ambulances also have to move the patients from their homes.
Wu Xin, 37, one of the medical practitioners shown in the TV show, says: “Unlike doctors in hospitals who can save patients in emergency rooms, every move we make is seen by the patients’ families.
“And, sometimes, they may have different opinions about our methods, which can be a distraction,” he says.
Li, however, says the show uses an objective tone to showcase the relationships between doctors and patients, a widely discussed topic in Chinese society. And it aims to help the general public better understand doctors.
Wu says the tough life of medical practitioners at emergency centers has made many of his colleagues leave the profession. And he hopes that this show can change perceptions.
Shanghai has almost 800 ambulances. In 2017, the ambulances in Shanghai went out 760,000 times on call.
Speaking about Shanghai’s medical infrastructure, Wu says: “In terms of ambulance facilities, Shanghai is on par with the United States. But our expertise needs to continuously improve.”
The show also features some embarrassing moments.
For example, some people even call 120 for a headache.
“A granny calls 120 because her maid is asleep, and she can’t wake her up,” says Wu.
In some cases, people call 120 for fun.
“So, we want to remind the public that this emergency service should be used only by those who really need it,” says Li.
Meanwhile, On Call 120 is also scheduled to cover other Chinese cities in subsequent seasons.