Growing concerns about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak have put China’s healthcare system under tremendous pressure, facing a multitude of challenges.
Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, accounts for more than 60 percent of total confirmed cases and 77 percent deaths in mainland China. So far, the virus has affected more than 80,000 and killed over 2,700 people across the world.
Last week, other nations were trying to gradually resume work but Hubei province told companies not to begin operations until March 11.
Even though public health officials in China have rushed to build new hospitals, some reports still describe that there are inadequate hospital beds and medical care.
The officials are trying to boost medical resources in Wuhan. They sent more than 30,000 medical staff to Hubei, with over 10 percent critical care medical workers currently being deployed in Wuhan to combat the outbreak.
A doctor who is familiar with the situation in Wuhan said, “These greatly relieved the stress, but because the number of confirmed cases is too large and keeps rising, demand can hardly get met in a short period of time.”
Inadequate medical services have been a great problem for China even before the coronavirus outbreak. Recently, there has been a surge in coronavirus patients, which stretched the Chinese healthcare system further. However, many people say it has been difficult to get medical care.
Some families with coronavirus patients have even turned to social media for help. Patients are calling for help on China’s Twitter-like platform called Weibo, with a trending topic “pneumonia patients ask for help.”
Last week, three Beijing hospitals admitted a cluster of coronavirus cases, raising concerns about the infection spreading further. On Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that controlling the coronavirus in Wuhan and Hubei province is the national priority.
