HANGZHOU(UP), WUHAN(MIDDLE), ALL ATTENDEES (DOWN)

At 6 PM March 13, a video conference connecting Hangzhou, Wuhan, Ireland and UK was held. SAHZU’s experience in preventing and controlling the spread of COVID-19 was shared with over 30 Irish and UK top medical experts. Prof. Oisín J. O'Connell, a respiratory consultant & interventional pulmonologist and fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, organized the conference after personally reaching out to SAHZU.

52,427 COVID-19 cases were reported at 122 countries outside China as of 12 PM March 13, including 70 in Ireland. At the second biggest Irish city of Cork where Prof. O’Connell is from, first 2 cases of community transimission were recently reported, which made him keen to learn about Chinese experience in the management of patients and the outbreak. According to the letter he sent to SAHZU before the conference, Prof. O’Connell and his team are especially concerned about measures to handle the sudden surge of patients and the situation where the health service is overwhelmed by the outbreak, the experience of medication usage and preparation, suggestions to enhance training for medical personnel, and methods to overcome the shortage of supplies.

Regarding to these questions, SAHZU leadership, chairs of respiratory medicine, emergency medicine, and infectious disease, and SAHZU’s Wuhan medical team, shared their experience from their own fields of expertise. The prevention and control mechanism in the whole country was firstly introduced by SAHZU President Prof. WANG Jian’an. Precautions such as face mask wearing, hand hygiene, cancellation of mass gathering, methods to cut the spread such as home quarantine, early detection and intervention, and efforts to ensure medical supplies in the epicenter of Wuhan, were explained in details. Prof. WANG even showed his health code, a code demonstrating one’s health condition based on the big data on the phone app Alipay, to Irish and UK friends. SAHZU Executive Vice President Prof. WANG Weilin who is leading the Wuhan medical team and SAHZU Vice President Prof. HUANG Jian who oversees the overall in-hospital prevention and control continued to answer to the concerns and questions raised by Ireland. The conference went on for 2 hours. In the end, SAHZU promised to keep on the communication via emails and is happy to answer all questions from Ireland. Prof. David Garry, a doctor from the ICU of Oxford university hospital, also sit in the conference along with his team.

After the conference, Prof. WANG Jian’an explained the reason behind this communication. He said that Chinese President Xi calls for building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind. As a Zhejiang University-affiliated hospital with 150-year history, we should love our home country but with a global vision. When we are confronted with difficulties, many international friends extended their helpful hands. Now is the time we should return their kindness when they are facing challenges. This is what is expected for us by the country. This is what we should do as a Chinese national as well as a century-old hospital.