A child COVID patient and a medical worker read a book together at the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen. Courtesy of the hospital
SHENZHEN is taking COVID-19 head-on, with hundreds of thousands of medical personnel serving as the backbone. And, in this army, the legion of female health workers forms an undoubtedly formidable force.
Over 300 female medical workers at the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, the city’s designated COVID treatment facility, are on the frontline in the fight against COVID on International Women’s Day, which falls on today. These health-care workers are daughters, wives and mothers, but they also play an important role in the city’s COVID fight.
Since the COVID outbreak in 2020, Yi Yunlan has been the hospital’s head nurse in the infectious disease intensive care unit (ICU). She has remained on the frontline for the following years.
According to the hospital, there are currently over 300 nurses working in the hospital’s emergency ward that receives COVID patients, and 90 percent of these nurses are female.
In the emergency ward, nurses face a heavier workload in addition to their regular nursing duties.
Children infected with COVID without their parents present are the most special patients under their care.
According to the hospital, about 20 percent of the patients in the emergency ward are children, and a special group of nurses has been set up to provide round-the-clock services for these patients.
Yi said: “When the epidemic is severe, we can’t sleep for more than a few hours because we have to receive patients. When there is a staff shortage, the nursing department urgently dispatches additional personnel as soon as possible, whether it’s 3 a.m. or 6 a.m.”
“As long as we fight together, we will be able to win the battle against COVID,” Yi added.
According to Yang Liuqing, associate chief physician at the hospital, she lost track of the times she has been to the emergency ward and tutored inexperienced doctors.
Yang had treated a COVID patient who was infected from South Africa and was terrified and agitated after learning he had been infected. Wearing a protective gown, Yang entered the ward and spoke with him for an hour.
“I told him that Shenzhen is one of the Chinese cities with the highest COVID cure rate,” she said.
The patient eventually calmed down thanks to Yang’s encouragement. When he was discharged, he stated that the conversation with Yang had given him hope that he would be able to beat the disease. (Shenzhen Daily)
