Although it’s still
early morning on FengQiming‘s work
day, the doctor has already been
busy with emergency
patients.
After finishing her
daily morning wards rounds, Feng, who
works in the Emergency Department of
Shanghai No 6 People’s Hospital, had
to hurry to the emergency room
to see other patients.
“Since
summer, we have received many
patients. The medical staff here have
been on the run all day,” she
said.
“The number of patients
has increased significantly in recent
days, especially during the afternoon
and night. Patients include both the
elderly and young,” Feng said. “Many
elderly people have chronic diseases
which easily worsen in the summer
heat while young people have been
staying in air conditioned rooms for
a long time, and consequently become
sick.”
Many patients also
suffer from fever and digestive
problems, Feng said.
The
constant sirens of ambulances make the
hospital’s emergency building seem
even more feverish and
noisy.
“On receiving calls from
the emergency center, medical staff
should give immediate aid to the
patients,” Feng said. “Summer is
usually our peak time, and we
have seen a surge of 20 percent
more patients in recent
days.”
In recent days, the
emergency room has sometimes treated
more than 1,100 patients a day. The
first-aid room treats more than 60
patients each day, and at peak
times, that number exceeds
100.
Shanghai’s temperatures have
reached 40 degrees, the local weather
department reported. That summer heat
has caused an unusual surge in
the number of patients seen by
the city’s
hospitals.
Statistics from the
Shanghai Health and Family Planning
Commission show the city’s large
general hospitals have been faced with
a high influx of patients, averaging
a total of 10,000 daily, an increase
of 10 to 20 percent on last month.
Among them, patient numbers at
Huashan, Renji and Xinhua hospitals
have reached as high as
14,000.
According to Shanghai’s
Huashan Hospital, the number of
outpatients in recent days has
increased 10 to 15 percent, or a
growth of 1,000 to 1,500 patients each
day on average. On July 1, the
total number of inpatients, outpatients
and visitors to emergency and first
aid rooms approached 14,000.
When
China Daily visited Huashan Hospital,
the hospital’s transfusion room was
filled with patients. Most of them
were elderly and suffering from
chronic diseases such as heart disease
and hypertension.
The city’s
pediatric hospitals have also seen a
rise in patient numbers of 20 to 30
percent.
“It’s summer vacation
now, and many children are spending
their time at home alone. Many
children come here because of injuries
such as falling down from a
high place or bumping into a
wall,” said a nurse from the
Shanghai Children’s
Hospital.
Officials from the
city’s medical emergency center told
China Daily the city’s ambulances
have been dispatched about 1,100 times
each day since late last
month.
The city has more
than 240 ambulances, which rotate day
and night shifts. During an ordinary
day, these ambulances average more
than 1,000 call-outs, according to the
center.
“The summer heat came
earlier than last year, which means
the peak time for calling ambulances
also came earlier. The rising demand
for ambulances advanced from mid July
to late June,” said Zhang Yu,
an official at Shanghai Medical
Emergency Center, which has more than
110 ambulances covering the large downtown
area.
“At some peak times,
ambulances are dispatched about 1,100 times”,
in a day, Zhang
said.
Ambulance doctors are
overloaded with work, he said, with
each doctor going out at least 12
times during a 12-hour shift.
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