Great Doctor Ling Ran

At five minutes to two in the evening, Huo Congjun entered Hall 3 from the back.

He lowered his head a little, allowing the wind from the air conditioner to brush through his unruly hair. In his hand were some notes that he was planning to use for the talk. He had managed to set aside some time to put those notes together. He gazed at his hands. His fingers had saved countless lives. They used to be stubby and firm, but were now thin and wrinkly, as though all energy had been drained from them.

Huo Congjun chuckled self-deprecatingly and silently encouraged himself. ‘My health is going downhill, but my experience and knowledge are at its peak. I can spread my ideas, and I manage my Emergency Department…’

His heart, which had fought off immense stress and crippling fatigue countless times while balancing responsibility against mindless routine and threading the thin line between giving up and persevering countless times was ceaselessly pumping nutrient-filled blood into his brain, making his cheeks flush.

He raised his head gently, just like he had done thousands of times before this.

Hall 3 could fit more than a hundred people, and it was filled to the brim. There were even some people standing in the corridor.

Huo Congjun’s heart had gone through trials of fire and ice, but even it skipped a beat at the sight.

“So many of you here. You didn’t come to the wrong conference hall, did you?” Huo Congjun cracked a joke, but immediately regretted it. ‘What a lame joke. Why did I do it?’

Soft laughter rang out from the crowd.

The good thing about having many attendees was having the listeners play a more active role when it came to feedback.

Huo Congjun became at ease again. He laughed out loud, sounding like Huo Congjun once more. “Thank you for supporting me with your presence and for your support, everyone. I reckon that many people here would want me to talk about my Emergency Department, but it would be inappropriate for me to bring this up, especially when the poll to decide the Emergency Medical Care’s pilot area would be held soon. To avoid the suspicion of me canvassing votes, the subject of my talk today is autologous blood transfusion…”

“All of you should be very familiar with autologous blood transfusion already. Compared to allogenic blood transfusion, it has several more advantages to offer. For example, blood shortage is becoming more and more of a problem nowadays. Propaganda and other methods cannot be used to solve this problem. As doctors, our best countermeasure would be to replace allogeneic blood transfusion with autologous blood transfusion…”

Having so many pairs of eyes fixed on him was enough to leave Huo Congjun dancing in joy. His uplifted mood also served to aid in the delivery of his speech. Huo Congjun was especially happy when the audience moved to gather in front while they looked at the front row.

He was speaking so excitedly that he did not notice Ling Ran, Doctor Zhou, and the others who were at the second row.

Huo Congjun’s gaze was far-reaching. He gazed vacantly at the back of the hall, not focused on any particular person. His voice was powerful, and he looked rather high in spirit.

Huo Congjun was very certain that all the audience in the conference hall were all still practicing doctors. The local community of doctors was not large to begin with, and if the circle was further limited to doctors in tertiary grade hospitals who practiced emergency medicine, that number would be diminished even further. Several members in the audience looked familiar to Huo Congjun.

There were some unfamiliar faces, and the number of female doctors were more than male doctors in the audience, but Huo Congjun could indistinctly sense the disposition exclusive to doctors coming from them.

“Autologous blood transfusion is not without disadvantages of its own. Some of those disadvantages can be solved with good management, but others may be difficult to solve in the near future. Hence, the balanced use of autologous blood transfusion is a new frontier…” Huo Congjun spoke excitedly, only concluding his speech when he received a reminder by the emcee.

Doctor Zhou had obediently sat on the second row from the beginning to the end. He heaved a long sigh of relief before he told Ling Ran with a smile, “Well, this matter is settled. The director would be happy for at least a week, and we’ll breathe easy during then.”

Ling Ran glanced at Doctor Zhou. He greatly suspected that Doctor Zhou’s ‘breathe easy’ was really just another term for slacking off.

…..

In the meeting room of Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department, Department Director Jin Xi, Chief Physician Wang Haiyang and other doctors sat upright on their seats.

Sitting quietly across them were Department Associate Director Pan Hua who had suddenly returned to China, and Japanese Doctor Hashimoto Shiro who came along with him.

Pan Hua was at the prime of his life. His gaze was sharp, and his mind was focused. His gaze swept past the other people. He started off with a smile.

“Professor Hashimoto Shiro is an associate professor in the Orthopaedics Department of Japan’s Keio University Hospital. He has studied the treatment of the no man’s land for years. Due to his busy work schedule and numerous surgeries in the waiting list, it was most difficult for Professor Hashimoto Shiro to find time to visit our hospital. I hope that we can communicate and learn from one another in the next few days.

An interpreter whispered into Hashimoto Shiro’s ear, and the latter gave a curt nod.

Hashimoto Shiro looked a few years younger than Pan Hua. He had a short and stout physique, flat facial features, and coarse skin. However, his hands were fair and smooth. Clearly, great care had been given to them.

Naturally, Department Director Jin and the others quickly extended their welcome.

Even though Yun Hua Hospital was the top hospital in Yun Hua City and Changxi Province, it was nowhere near as good as West China Center of Medical Sciences and other government-funded hospitals. Naturally, it was inferior when compared to Keio, which was a world-class hospital.

Hashimoto Shiro responded politely.

Department Director Jin and the others were even more polite.

The atmosphere was extraordinarily harmonious.

Having specialists from other countries invited over was a very celebrated matter. The fact that Pan Hua had managed to invite Hashimoto Shiro was even more pleasing to Department Director Jin.

Hashimoto Shiro coughed a little and started speaking in his tongue, “I heard that some young emergency physician in your hospital had performed dozens of surgeries using the M-Tang technique lately. May I know more about it?”

After Department Director Jin heard those words from the interpreter, his smile immediately faded.

After pondering over his words for a moment, Director Jin started replying slowly, “If you would like to observe the surgeries performed in the Emergency Department, I could make arrangements.”

“As much as that would please me, I desire to take a look at the patients who had gone through the surgeries even more,” Hashimoto Shiro said.

“The best way to understand the process of a surgery is by looking at the results.”

“The Emergency Department is a separate entity from our Hand Surgery Department. We do not get to decide the work carried out in the Emergency Department. It is even more troublesome for us to make ward rounds in the Emergency Department…” Department Director Jin immediately turned down the request.

“Ward rounds aren’t necessary,” Pan Hua said, “We can invite a few patients over and perform an examination for them in the Hand Surgery Department. I heard that the rehabilitation of some patients is carried out in our department. How ludicrous.”

Department Director Jin’s face fell. He gave a warning. “Old Pan, don’t stir trouble.”

“The Emergency Department is the one making trouble.” Pan Hua snorted.

The interpreter whispered to Hashimoto Shiro. Aware of that, Department Director Jin and Pan Hua stopped speaking.

Hashimoto Shiro shook his head a little and said, “What all of you are doing is destroying the name of the suturing of flexor tendons in no man’s land.”

“What do you mean?” Wang Haiyang furrowed his eyebrows in aversion.

“The suturing of flexor tendons in the no man’s land exhausts a lot of medical resources. It requires a doctor his full concentration for multiple hours. In Japan, we have lengthy discussions before performing such a surgery. But all of you actually performed this kind of surgery without careful consideration, and carried out dozens of them in one go on top of that. I have my doubts about this.”

Hashimoto Shiro had obviously come prepared. He went on without skipping a beat.

“The advancement of hand surgery in China is built on the foundation that you can perform many sutures because you have a high volume of surgeries. I find that highly unhealthy. This is the wrong way to develop your skills in this particular area of surgery.”

“Mr. Hashimoto,” Pan Hua gave him a reminder.

Hashimoto Shiro glanced at Pan Hua. His tone was no longer as stern as before. He said, “By employing a strategy where you value quality over quantity, you will not only reduce the burden of your medical staff, but also increase the success rate and efficiency of the suturing. All of you should work towards this direction. You cannot just carry out surgeries for the sake of carrying out surgeries.”

“Mr. Hashimoto, the situation in China is different. We have a lot of patients needing surgery, and we can’t just leave them unattended,” Department Director Jin retorted weakly.

Hashimoto Shiro said stubbornly, “If the line gets too long, you should be firm and perform amputations on patients who are not suited for replantation of severed fingers and the suturing of deep tendons. This would save some medical resources, and they can be used on patients who need it more. For example, patients addicted to smoking should be amputated instead of receiving sutures.”

Nicotine would cause the spasming of blood vessels and lead to necrosis of the sutured finger. It was an absolute taboo when it came to amputation and replantation surgeries.

Wang Haiyang pondered and said, “The fact that we are treating patients and saving their lives means that we need to give them a chance. If the patient were to agree to quit and fulfills the criteria to get sutured, we should at least give them a chance.”

“It is hard to stop smoking, and even harder to make patients obey. We have a lot to learn from the United States when it comes to the centralization of medical resources. Japan is slowly implementing this. As for China…” Hashimoto Shiro looked at the Chinese around him and grinned.

“Anyway, do let me take a look at how the surgeries performed in a Chinese hospital’s Emergency Department in no man’s land using the M-Tang technique are like first. We can then discuss the heavy subject of healthcare reform. What do you think?”