China’s Huoshenshan Hospital a race against epidemic
By People’s Daily
Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain)
Hospital, the first makeshift hospital built for treating patients infected
with the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province,
was officially delivered to medical teams of the Chinese army on Feb. 2.
It was
not an easy task to build the hospital in just days which covers a total area
of 50,000 square meters with a floor space of 33,900 square meters.
The construction of the Huoshenshan Hospital was a race against
the epidemic, and every single second was made full use of. It was built by
over 6,000 constructors in shifts, and nearly 1,000 large-scale machinery and vehicles
were working at site around the clock. The construction once again demonstrated
China’s strength and speed of building infrastructure.
“The schedule was tight. A hospital of this size normally takes at
least one month to build, but we just used ten days,” said Shen Kai, site
manager of the technical team of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau,
the constructor of the Huoshenshan Hospital.
“Our workers were on two shifts and the design team even had only
two hours of sleep each day. It’s common to stay up the whole night working,”
Shen disclosed.
The “mission impossible” was completed in the face of extremely
serious epidemic situation as the spreading of the novel coronavirus outran the
continuously expending number of hospital beds at designated hospitals.
“Based on the experience of combating the severe acute respiratory
syndromes (SARS) in 2003, we know that building a new hospital for treating
patients with the epidemic disease can significantly relieve the current
pressure on hospitals and reduce cross infection,” said a medical expert who
has taken part in China’s battle against the SARS epidemic.
The newly-built hospital, upon its operation, also plays an
important role in reducing social panic, the expert added.
In April 2003, Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital was built to treat the
SARS victims in Beijing. The hospital, with 1,000 beds, received one seventh of
the country’s patients infected with the SARS virus in two months, and no
medical worker was infected, creating a miracle in the history of medical
science.
As a specialized hospital for infectious disease, Huoshenshan
Hospital was built on strict standards in every aspect, from the layout of the wards
to the design of sewer tunnels. It has extremely harsh requirements on
protective measures.
Learning from the construction of Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital,
Huoshenshan Hospital is superior to its “predecessor”.
The hospital is mainly used to treat confirmed patients. It has 1,000
beds and includes intensive care units and general wards. In addition, the
hospital also has supporting departments specializing in infection prevention
and control, examination, special diagnosis, and radiodiagnosis.
The hospital takes strict quarantine measures in an attempt to
avoid cross infection and maximize the health and safety of medical workers.
Wards in Huoshenshan Hospital are elevated 30 centimeters above
the ground. Every ward has an independent restroom, and most rooms in the
hospital are under negative pressure, so that they can avoid cross infection
caused by viruses in airflow.
All
contaminated resources in Huoshenshan Hospital are disinfected in a centralized
treatment station. The hospital has installed rainwater and sewage treatment
system, as well as a ventilation system, and all contaminated substances are
discharged only when meeting standards after going through strict disinfection
and filtration procedures.
Meanwhile, the
hospital has covered 50,000 square meters of impermeable film on the ground to ensure
that contaminants don’t percolate into the soil and water.
After the construction of Huoshenshan Hospital was broadcast on
livestreaming platforms, tens of millions of netizens became online supervisors.
It was beyond imagination that a construction site could become the center of
the focus for millions of people.
“This is not simply a livestreaming show carried out at a
construction site, but a hope of defeating the epidemic. Everyone wants to see
it proceed fast, and faster.” Such online comments were frequently posted
during the past days.
With the army of excavators and construction workers working
non-stop, as well as materials continuously being transported to Wuhan, the
whole country is preparing for the battle against the novel coronavirus in an
amazing speed, said a foreigner who has watched the livestreaming.
World
Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised
China’s efforts to fight the epidemic, saying that he has never seen such scale
of mobilization in his life.
Many
people may have paid attention to the large Chinese hospital built in ten days,
but the country is taking more measures for the battle, said the WHO chief,
adding that he believes that these measures will help China turn the table.
After the completion of the construction of Huoshenshan Hospital,
many construction workers and machinery were immediately transferred to the
construction site of Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) Hospital, the second
hospital built for the treatment of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan.
With the approval of Chairman of the Central Military Commission
Xi Jinping, the Chinese army dispatched a total of 1,400 medical staff to
Huoshenshan Hospital. Tasked with treating patients in the hospital starting
from Monday, these medical staff have rich experience in treating infectious
diseases.
Many of them have taken part in the combats against the epidemics
including SARS in Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital and Ebola in Sierra Leone and
Liberia.
Photo shows the construction site of Huoshenshan Hospital in
Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. (Photo by Wang Wei/People’s
Daily)
China’s Huoshenshan Hospital a race against epidemic
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