I'm back in the saddle after heading to SG for my Lunar New Year vacation. In this piece, I look at how China's health care system, already stressed in normal times, is now stretched to the brink with the coronavirus.
nyti.ms/2RSsjl5
nyti.ms/2RSsjl5
I started reporting on this when it was a localized medical mystery in late December. When I left for my vacation, the cases had hovered at 41 for days. In the past week, they have skyrocketed to 2,700. I'm still reeling.
The more I report, the more I see worrying signs. We spoke to a 51-year-old Wuhan resident who tried to seek help. He had a fever and breathing problems for more than 15 days, the symptoms that authorities said people should report. But he was not tested for the new coronavirus.
This makes me wonder how many more like him are out there -- could there be far more cases of the virus than are being officially reported? He was then turned away from 3 other hospitals because there aren't enough beds.
He was finally hospitalized on Jan. 26, about a week (!) after he first tried to get help. How many people did he come into contact with during that time?
You have to feel for the doctors -- they have had to beg for proper medical equipment. Several medical workers have had to cut plastic folders to jury-rig goggles. Hospital corridors are loaded with patients, some of whom appear to be dead.
The Wuhan govt announced that they would build two hospitals within weeks. Many marveled at the speed -- first one would supposedly be up within 10 days. But @xcyale notes that hospitals are not enough, what's important is a proper primary care system that China doesn't have.
For a look at how China is struggling to do this and for more context on the health care system here, read my Sept 2018 story: nytimes.com/2018/09/30/bus…
In Wuhan, the desperation is real. Cai Pei, 41, said his wife had begun coughing and developed a fever three days ago but hospitals would not admit her, and that he had difficulty finding masks and cold medicine in pharmacies.
This quote got me: “Sometimes I can only hide and cry, but I couldn’t tell her and had to reassure her that it is not the virus.”
Ending this thread with a final thought that other health care systems would also find dealing with the coronavirus to be a major challenge. As @YanzhongHuang notes, China had invested a lot in building a robust public health infrastructure in the wake of SARS.
More from @YanzhongHuang: “But they didn’t anticipate something so sudden, so acute and so tremendous."
