Police use social media to clear emergency lanes to transport sick child

A notice posted on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, calling for cars to make way for an ambulance driving from Qingdao, East China’s Shandong Province to Beijing on Sunday morning, has gone viral on China’s social media.

The ambulance was transferring Wang Yibei, a 21-month-old girl who was in critical condition due to acute meningitis caused by H1N1 flu on Sunday, the last day of the Spring Festival holiday and also the busiest day on expressways to Beijing.

As of Sunday night, the girl has not yet come out of critical condition but her vital signs are stable, according to the doctor in the ambulance.

The girl was sent to Beijing Children’s Hospital of Capital Medical University at 6 pm thanks to the cooperation of drivers and joint efforts of the traffic police of Beijing and Hebei Province, North China.

Wang’s aunt told the Beijing Youth Daily that the girl got the flu and had been in hospital in Qingdao since February 5. On February 9, the girl fell into critical condition. On the morning of Sunday, doctors decided to transfer the girl to Beijing.

In the afternoon, the post was repeatedly forwarded also on WeChat, reminding drivers to keep out of the emergency lane so that she could be transported as quickly as possible.

Traffic police of Langfang, Hebei Province, issued a notice on their Sina Weibo account at 3 pm to remind drivers to clear the emergency lane. An hour later, another notice read that the ambulance had entered Langfang under the escort of the traffic police.

At 5:39 pm, the ambulance entered Beijing and the escort was taken over by the Beijing traffic police. Half an hour later, the girl was sent into the emergency room.