Emergency doctors kept ERs open, sacrificing time with loved ones

Zhang Guoqiang, director of the Emergency Department at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, talks with a patient while visiting the department's Intensive Care Unit. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

The Practicing Physicians Law, which aims to lay an even firmer foundation for the development of the next generation of high-caliber medical workers, came into effect earlier this month.

Though that foundation is already pretty solid, the need to strictly implement epidemic control measures to safeguard participants during Spring Festival and the recently concluded 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games was challenging for medical workers in the capital.

Liu Deruo, the hospital's thoracic surgeon, reads a patient's CT scan during outpatient service. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

For example, all 120 emergency department physicians at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, who have an average age of under 35, spent Spring Festival in the city working regular shifts. "People take breaks, but diseases don't," said Zhang Hongbo, deputy director of the hospital's emergency department, adding that all of the hospital's ER departments were packed during the holiday. "As a result, no one was on leave."

China has more than 4 million practicing physicians working at over 1 million medical institutions.

An emergency doctor checks a child's condition. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

Surgeons perform an organ transplant in one of the hospital's operating rooms. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

A patient is on the way to being admitted to the hospital's ER department. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

An emergency doctor uses defibrillators to treat a patient at the hospital. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

Zhang Qi, director of the hospital's Pediatrics Department, checks a newborn's health. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

An emergency patient is transported to one of the hospital's rescue rooms. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

A helicopter carrying a patient with myocardial infarction from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region is ready to land at the hospital. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

Contact the writers at zhuxingxin@chinadaily.com.cn