China’s Health Care System Strained by Covid-19 Surge and Medical Worker Shortage
China is experiencing a shortage of medical workers due to a surge in Covid-19 cases throughout the country. Hospitals are struggling to keep up with the demand, and some have been forced to ask sick staff to continue working. In one county-level city in Hubei province, it is estimated that 20% of medical staff in a hospital have been infected. That percentage reaches 50% among those working in high-risk settings. The rise in infections among health workers comes after the country relaxed Covid restrictions in November, requiring hospitals to ensure that their fever clinics are open 24 hours a day and prohibiting them from turning away the sick.
To cope with the surge in medical demand, some hospitals in Beijing and elsewhere have implemented a more lenient strategy. This includes requiring medical staff to rotate weekly or telling sick staff who are sick with Covid to return to fever clinics or emergency departments after becoming fever-free. Some hospitals have also stopped requiring their doctors and nurses to take regular nucleic acid tests, although they still need to wear N95 masks when admitting patients. In the southwestern city of Kunming, a general hospital is now counting medical staff who take time off for Covid symptoms as sick leave, which could affect their pay and year-end bonuses.
Faced with a shortage of medical workers, some hospitals in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Sichuan province have asked graduate medical students who are undergoing hospital-based, standardized training to assist in the treatment of emergency and fever patients. This has led some students to complain about low pay or inadequate protection against the virus. The death of a 23-year-old medical student at West China Hospital of Sichuan University, reportedly working while infected with Covid, has caused concern about the state of the country’s healthcare system. Infectious disease expert Zhang Wenhong warns that the coming month will be the darkest period for the country’s medical institutions.
