Hospitals are overwhelmed, say medical personnel on the frontline of China’s COVID battle

By Martin Quin Pollard

BEIJING (Reuters – This is the most extraordinary case of emergency medicine that Howard Bernstein, a Beijing-based physician, has ever seen in his more than 30 years of practice.

He said that patients are coming to his hospital in increasing numbers. Most are elderly and have severe COVID and pneumonia symptoms.

Bernstein’s account is similar to the testimony of medical staff in China, who are trying to cope with China’s sudden U-turn on its COVID policies. This was followed by a national wave of infections.

This is the worst outbreak in China since the pandemic that struck Wuhan’s central city three years ago. Due to heavy demand, Beijing’s crematoriums and government hospitals have also been experiencing difficulties this month.

Bernstein said to Reuters that the hospital was “just overwhelmed from top-to-bottom” after a stressful shift at Beijing United Family Hospital, east of the capital.

He stated that the ICU was full, as is the emergency department, the fever clinic, and all other wards.

“Most of them were admitted at the hospital. They aren’t improving in a few days, so there is no flow. People keep coming to the ER but can’t go upstairs to hospital rooms. “They are stuck in the ER for several days.”

Bernstein has seen dozens of COVID patients in the last month. He went from not having ever treated one in the past month.

He stated that “the biggest challenge is honestly I think we were just not prepared for this.”

Sonia Jutard Bourreau, 48 is the chief medical officer of the private Raffles hospital in Beijing. She said that patient numbers have increased by five to six times and that the average age of patients has increased by approximately 40 years to 70 within a matter of one week.

She stated, “It is always the same profile.” “That’s because most of the patients are not vaccinated.”

Raffles is visited by patients and their families because local hospitals are “overwhelmed” and because they want to purchase Paxlovid (the Pfizer-made COVID therapy), which many places, including Raffles are short on.

Jutard Bourreau stated that the patients want the medicine to be a substitute for the vaccine but added that the team must meet certain criteria before they can prescribe the medication.

Jutard-Bourreau is a Chinese-American who, like Bernstein, has worked in China for about ten years. He fears that Beijing’s worst nightmares are still a ways off.

Reuters spoke to medical staff elsewhere in China who said that their resources were already stretched to breaking point in some cases. COVID, sickness, and other factors have been especially high.

According to one nurse based west of Xian city, 45 out 51 nurses of her department as well as all emergency staff have been infected with the virus in the past week.

The 22-year old nurse surnamed Wang said, “There are so many good cases among my fellows.” “Almost all of the doctors are down.”

Wang and other nurses at other hospitals stated that they were instructed to report for duty, even if they are positive for a mild case of fever.

Jiang, a 29 year-old nurse working on a Hubei hospital’s psychiatric unit, stated that staff attendance is down by more than 50%. The ward has also stopped accepting new patients. She stated that she works 16-hour shifts and has insufficient support.

She stated, “I worry that the patient may become agitated and you need to restrain them. However, it is not possible to do this alone.” It’s not a good situation to be in.

MORTALITY RATES “POLITICAL”

Reuters interviewed doctors to find out their top concerns. Experts estimate that elderly may be in the thousands.

Airfinity, a UK-based health data firm, estimates that COVID-19 is likely to cause death in China every day. This contrasts with the Beijing data on the current outbreak.

The National Health Commission didn’t immediately respond to Reuters’s request for comment about the concerns raised in this article by medical staff.

China reported no COVID deaths for six days from Sunday, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated on Sunday. However, crematories were experiencing a high demand.

China has narrowed the definition of COVID-related deaths, allowing only COVID-caused pneumonia and respiratory failure to be counted. This raises eyebrows among international health professionals.

Jutard Bourreau stated, “It is not medicine, but it’s politics.” “If they are dying with COVID, it’s because COVID. “The mortality rate is now political numbers and not medical.”

(Additional reporting from the Beijing Newsroom. Gerry Doyle edits