‘Made of flesh, not iron’: China’s medics battle zero-Covid exit wave
China’s medical staff are being asked to work while sick and retired workers are being recalled to duty, as frontline health professionals bear the brunt of Beijing’s about-face on its tough zero-Covid policy.
Experts have warned that the situation will deteriorate as the virus spreads from China’s big cities to rural areas with more precarious healthcare systems, as the country struggles with one of the world’s biggest Covid outbreaks.
“We can work hard, we can work overtime, but at the end of the day, medical staff, like others, are made of flesh, not iron,” said a Beijing-based doctor surnamed Ning. “No matter how dedicated we are, we have physical and mental limits.”
Xu tested positive but was asked to continue working. “More than half of the medical workers are sick but each hour more patients come here for treatment. [We] have no choice but to carry on working.”
The Beijing-based doctor Ning said one of the most stressful aspects for medical staff was that they were being blamed by the public for the difficult situation, with videos online accusing doctors of not treating Covid patients in a proper or timely manner.
He also felt guilty and worried about the legal risks of working while infected because of the danger of exposing vulnerable patients to Covid.
“No matter which path we choose, medical staff are the frontier fighters taking the blow,” he said.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Eleanor Olcott
