Cao Guang, a doctor at the Anzhen Hospital in Beijing, has been living in
Africa for two years on an exchange assignment. But months before he was due to
return home, he was caught in the middle of the region's most serious epidemic
outbreak in years.
About five months ago, when the general Chinese public didn't know anything
about the Ebola outbreak, a team of Chinese medical experts were already facing
the risk of death every day.
Cao was one of the 19 people on the Anzhen Hospital's expert team sent to the
China-Guinea Friendship Hospital in Conakry, capital of Guinea, in 2012 as part
of a tradition to help out with medical practices there. The team encountered
the Ebola outbreak, and Cao has even been quarantined.
Shocking practices
Cao was shocked at how unprofessionally the surgeries were carried out when
he first went to Guinea, the Beijing Evening News reported. In one case, after a
routine appendectomy, the doctor started cleaning the wound with bottled water
bought on the street.
According to medical regulations, wounds should be cleaned and washed with
saline solution, Cao told the newspaper. But in Guinea, the doctors would even
use bottled water to clean wounds in the brain.
After the surgery, Cao told his coworkers that saline solution should be used
at all times to wash wounds. Afterwards, infection rates among patients were
reduced from 50 to 5 percent.
But in many other cases, the lack of medicines presents a major hurdle to
medical professionals trying to carry out their normal duties.
Che Hao, an anesthetist from Anzhen Hospital, told the Beijing Evening News
that the drug hospitals use for general anesthesia in Guinea has not been used
in China for 40 years, but he still has to use it because there's no
alternative.
And when low medical standards meet with a serious epidemic like Ebola, there
is very little cause for optimism.
Cao wrote on his Weibo that many Chinese workers in Guinea called the medical
team to learn about the epidemic. However, at the hospital itself, there's no
established system for generating reports about epidemics.
"The hospital here doesn't have a department on infectious diseases and has
low protection against them," he wrote. "We only have one towel in the surgery
room and keep using it even when it's bloody. Sometimes we don't even have
surgical uniforms and go in with our ordinary clothes."
Fighting the disease
On March 17, Cao received a patient who was suffering fever, nausea and was
constantly throwing up. He suggested that the patient undergo a CT scan to see
if there was any cerebral hemorrhage. The patient died four days later.
Cao remembers clearly that on the day of death the patient's eyes were red as
a rabbit's, he wrote.
A couple of days later, on March 24, Cao received a phone message from the
government announcing there was an Ebola outbreak. The next day, Cao's team
leader, Kong Qingyu, officially announced the existence of such a virus.
Cao wrote that the team, especially clinical doctors, had all experienced the
SARS outbreak in 2003 and were optimistic about surviving the virus.
A few days later, the patient Cao received was diagnosed as having Ebola,
becoming the first sufferer in the capital. Immediately, tensions rose in the
hospital. Cao wrote that the team's residence faced strict precautions, the
kitchen was thoroughly cleaned and everybody ate at home. All team members were
also given a thermometer to take their own body temperature every night.
The patients diagnosed with Ebola were quarantined. Cao's medical team was
strictly managed and the patients had to be registered and be ruled out of
having Ebola before they could be treated by the team.
The newest data from the WHO shows that 1,779 were diagnosed as infected with
Ebola and 961 died from the disease.
Cao wrote that the WHO and Doctors Without Borders are also helping with the
disease and he thinks they are playing a key role in keeping the epidemic under
control.
Under quarantine
Even though help came at the time it was most needed, unexpected cases are
still occurring.
Cao wrote that in April, his African coworker Dr. Gassimou, and a nurse,
Madamu Camara, died from Ebola. Cao was also quarantined at that time.
Cao had been careless when living on his own, but when Ebola struck, he
became extremely cautious.
When he got up in the morning, he checked himself in front of the mirror to
see whether his eyes had turned red like those of the patient's; when he got
even a little dizzy, he became nervous and wondered whether it was a symptom of
the disease.
Normally, he only drank water when he was thirsty, but during the quarantine,
he forced himself to drink water.
Kong said that once he gave Cao a box of nutrition pills that were said to
have the ability to fight the virus.
"I know Ebola is putting him under a lot of pressure," he told the Beijing
Evening News.
On April 14, the quarantine ended. Cao wrote on his Weibo, "I know now that
being alive is a beautiful thing."
Afterwards, Cao carried on with his job. A netizen commented on Cao's Weibo,
"Some people are saving the world where you can't see." To this, Cao wrote that
as a doctor, he was only trying to do his job, despite the difficulties.
"I don't have the ability to overcome the virus, I'm just glad I didn't fall
into its trap," he wrote.