Thousands of Chinese doctors volunteered for the front line of the coronavirus outbreak. They are overwhelmed, under-equipped, exhausted, and even dying.

Lauren Frias

Feb 7, 2020, 12:58 IST

Thousands of Chinese doctors volunteered for the front line of the coronavirus outbreak. They are overwhelmed, under-equipped, exhausted, and even dying.

The hard and dangerous work of battling China's coronavirus epidemic is mainly being done by its medics - many of whom live nowhere near the affected areas.
Throughout the crisis, reports, videos, and staff themselves have showed the scale of the problem: supplies and protective gear are scarce, and the workload is enormous.
As many as 1,000 medical staff have themselves caught the virus while treating it. Several have died.
On Thursday, 34-year-old Li Wenliang, who helped first raise the alarm about the virus and was punished for it, was confirmed dead.
These are the sacrifices that China's medical workers have made, and continue to make.
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Doctors and medical staff are feeling the toll of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus more than anybody except their patients.

As of Friday morning local time the virus, named after its epicenter in the city of Wuhan, had killed 635 people and infected nearly 31,000. As many as 1,000 of those infected were medical staff.

Some workers who contracted the disease have died. More still are working in almost impossible conditions, without the protection or resources they need to control an epidemic. Here is the situation on the ground:

Doctors in Wuhan, which was placed under a sweeping quarantine on January 24, have been faced with far more patients than they can handle.

China has relatively few doctors per capita compared to countries like the US, and those it does have are less well-trained.

Wuhan's medical staff were soon overwhelmed. In response at least 6,000 medics from other parts of China were sent in, despite the risks.

Even with enough doctors, many hospitals were desperately short of supplies. This included protective gear for the medics.

Wuhan's hospitals also lacked beds. On January 23 China announced it would build two totally new hospitals to cope. One opened on February 2, the second on February 6.

As the outbreak has dragged on, China has pledged to commit even more people and resources. But there are still difficulties.

The stress medical workers are under has been enormous.

Working conditions have been desperate. Some doctors resorted to wearing adult diapers because they have too little time to even use the bathroom.

Countermeasures took a physical toll. Medics' hands were bleached from constant disinfectant, and the lines from face masks dug into their skin.

The precautions do not always work. Posts on Chinese social media suggest that as many as 1,100 medical staff have caught the virus — almost one in 30 of the total case load.

One doctor who contracted the disease locked herself in her apartment and didn't even tell her own family.

A seven-months-pregnant nurse who helped fight the outbreak also got infected.

However, probably the most keenly-felt loss in China was that of Li Wenliang, a doctor who died on Friday at the age of 34.

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