Local doctor shares his Wuhan experience

A live connection enabled a local medical worker sent to Wuhan to share the story of his part in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic at a Shanghai government press conference on Friday.

Yu Yuetian, an associate chief physician at Renji Hospital's critical care medicine department, came to public attention after a photograph of him kneeling on the ground while treating a patient was posted online.

At the press conference, Yu told the story behind the photo to local media.

“I am with the third group of medical teams from Shanghai to support Hubei and I've stayed in Wuhan for 46 days. We work with the medics of Wuhan No. 3 Hospital's Guanggu branch to treat coronavirus patients," Yu said.

So far, their group has treated 320 patients, more than 26 percent of those at the hospital, and 175 of them had recovered and been discharged.

"I was kneeling when draining the patient’s pleural cavity to ensure that the drainage tube is horizontal, which is good for the patient's safety and the success of placing the tube," said Yu. "I learned that the picture received many 'likes' online. But as a physician, I don't think there's anything special with that and every doctor will choose the most appropriate and effective way to save the patient."

He said his experience in Wuhan had reinforced his belief that every life deserves respect and needs to be saved even when there are risks involved. 

"We've treated some special cases which impressed me,” he said. “One of our patients is an 85-year-old man with severe infection of coronavirus and several chronic diseases like high blood pressure, coronary disease and diabetes."

Such patients — elderly and with other health problems — often had the disease strike suddenly and rapidly get worse. Along with difficulty in treatment and high death rates, this was great challenge for doctors.

For this elderly patient, the virus had quickly spread in his lungs and he had to be put on a respiratory machine. 

The disease caused kidney damage and he was once at death's door with his blood oxygen saturation dropping from a normal 98 percent to just 60 percent.

It took Yu and his colleagues two weeks to save him and make his condition stable. 

When he recovered and left hospital, he wrote a note of thanks to Yu's team.

Yu said that thanks to the efforts of medical staff from all over the country in Wuhan, the epidemic had been effectively controlled. The numbers of confirmed and suspected cases had declined sharply. 

"The number of confirmed patients hospitalized at the Wuhan No.3 Hospital's Guanggu branch has decreased from its peak of 650 to 300."

There has been a steady increase in the number of patients released from hospital. The intensive care unit where Yu works has saved 120 critical patients and there are 30 others still being treated.

Yu said many of the patients still in hospital were in a critical condition but added: "We're confident and capable to save everyone of them, striving to raise the cure rate and cut the death rate.

''I can feel the grief of families that lost their loved ones and how strong the minds of the people in Wuhan are. I'll try my best to save patients to make sure there are no regrets."

Ti Gong