The increase in COVID-19 infections in China is putting pressure on medical workers, especially after the death of a medical student following a seizure in hospital, exacerbating concerns about the health system’s ability to cope.
The death of a Chinese student who was doing hospital work has shaken health care workers across the country and raised fears that hospitals will be overwhelmed as Beijing’s lifting of strict Covid-19 restrictions leads to a surge in infections.
A medical college in southwest China’s Chengdu city said the first-year medical student, whom it referred to by his surname Chen, collapsed on Tuesday after completing his clinical work.
She said he died of a heart attack shortly after 10 p.m., Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal quoted classmates of the student, as well as chat and medical records circulating among groups of medical students, seen by the newspaper, that Chen had tested positive for Covid-19.
It appears he told a trainer he had a fever but was still asking him to participate in surgeries, according to chat logs.
The school, which earlier issued a statement that Mr. Chen, 23, was in critical condition, did not indicate whether he had undergone a COVID-19 test.
Until this month, China had largely managed to prevent an outbreak of the virus among medical workers, but with the virus spreading in some communities after the recent easing of Covid-19 restrictions, the medical system is facing the largest outbreak since the first cases of the virus were reported in Wuhan three years ago. Years.
Many Chinese hospitals have stopped testing medical personnel. The newspaper says that the collapse of the medical student sparked reactions on social media
A hashtag about the school’s initial statement on Mr Chen’s situation has attracted more than 130 million views on the social media platform Weibo.
And a doctor at a large public hospital in Beijing said most of the medical staff there – doctors, nurses and pharmacists – are sick with Covid-19.
Residents of Beijing and other cities say the coronavirus is now spreading with unprecedented ferocity in China, but the true extent of the increase is unclear, as authorities have dramatically reduced mass testing.
Medical workers across the country say they have seen a sharp increase in covid cases among colleagues.
And while China has increased spending to build more hospitals and develop vaccines in response to the pandemic, much of the money has gone toward paying for the now-abandoned Zero Covid strategy, leading to reduced investment to expand medical resources.
Last week, the National Health Commission said the country had 138,100 critical care beds.
This translates to roughly 10 beds per 100,000 people, and means that China has doubled the number of critical care beds listed in official records in 2021, which was 67,198.
But at the same time, growth in the number of medical personnel has lagged, and outbreaks of disease have left medical personnel with a weakening that cannot be easily repaired.
And medical students were increasingly called upon to fill the gap, following a pattern seen in New York City and other places hit by heavy Covid cases.
And in China, hundreds of medical students have protested in recent days against the intense workload and high infection rates. Among their demands are better protection against COVID-19, equal pay as full-time hospital staff and enough time off.