Yongfeng’s prescription team delivers medicines
THE medicine prescription squad of Songjiang’s Yongfeng Subdistrict grew from ten members in mid-March to more than 30 within a month, assisting around 6,000 locals in prescribing medicine in both Songjiang and downtown Shanghai hospitals.
The average number of prescription orders was around 250, and the members had nearly met their goal of “prescribing drugs within two days.”
They worked every day from 7am to 8pm, enquiring about medical needs, collecting health insurance cards, scheduling routes, prescribing medicine, sorting the medicine, and delivering it to residents.
“Initially, there were only a few locked-down neighborhoods in Songjiang, so we devised a broad strategy and prescribed more than 150 orders of medicine at once. As the number of lockeddown communities expanded, we adjusted our method to match
the unique needs of each community,” Chen Kaixi, the squad’s initiator, said.
They also implemented a phased medicine prescription mechanism, with Phase One consisting of the district’s pharmacies ensuring basic supply,
Phase Two consisting of community hospitals, Phase Three consisting of the district’s central hospital, and Phase Four consisting of the Shanghai No.1 People’s Hospital’s South Branch and the Fangta Hospital.
“The phased strategy boosted our efficiency and benefited more residents,” Chen explained.
The team also made every effort to recruit medical staff, community police, and pharmacists in the communities, and they worked in pairs to save time while giving medication.
Bags containing medicine were stored in the subdistrict office each day, and squad members sorted and delivered them.
“We always supply and process the medication as soon as we recommend it. Biomedicines that require freezing, such as insulin, would be delivered to residents as soon as we returned,” explained one of the members.
Li Yao, the only male member of the prescription squad, would cross the Huangpu River to obtain Clonazepam tablets for people suffering from insomnia and mental health issues at the Tanghui Road mental health center. Li has assisted over 100 people suffering from mental illnesses. The squad would often visit the downtown Shanghai Mental Health Center to get some out-of-stock medication.
An elderly patient surnamed Li sought treatment at the downtown Changhai Hospital.
“I could get some reimbursement from the hospital, so could you please do me a favor?” asked Li.
Four members of the squad formed a “downtown team” to handle the needs of patients like Li.
“We would first inquire about the departments, then verify each hospital’s WeChat account to ensure that outpatient service is available the following day. We would also assess the optimal routes and whether or not our nucleic acid test results had expired,” explained one of the members.