City’s last medical team in Hubei return today

Medics pose for a photo while sticking a seal on a door to the C6 ward at the makeshift Leishenshan Hospital yesterday. He Long

The last Shenzhen medical team supporting Hubei Province will return to the city today after 40 days of fighting COVID-19 in Wuhan City.

The team of 25 traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors tended 46 patients including 13 in serious condition at Ward 6 of the makeshift Leishenshan Hospital.

With all the patients having been discharged, except for one who was transferred to another ward, Ward 6 was cleared Saturday and sealed Sunday evening.

“It is an important day today (Saturday); our ward has been cleared with no patients, we have finished our mission,” Liu Yuxiang, head of the team, said in an interview with Shenzhen TV.

In the ward, some patients were elderly and needed long-term treatment. It was a challenge both physically and mentally, according to Liu.

The medical team not only completed clinical treatment but also took care of their food and daily necessities.

“We are very glad to see the achievements we have made. We came with the expectation and responsibility of Shenzhen and now our team has returned home safe and sound,” said Liu, who also participated in the fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003.

At a ceremony Sunday afternoon at the square of Leishenshan Hospital, Wang Xinghuan, head of the hospital, bid farewell to the 1,090 medics from different provinces including Guangdong, Liaoning, Jilin, Shanxi, Hebei and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

At the square, scrolls and banners with words of gratitude and unwillingness to part lined the team’s departure walkway.

Preventative clothing became souvenirs for farewell signatures and blessings among medical teams. Volunteers and medical teams signed their names on team flags. Some volunteers dressed up as cartoon characters to enliven the moment with the medical workers. The storerooms previously used for medical materials became photo studios where doctors and nurses took photos to capture the life-long memories.

Members of the Shenzhen team were the third batch of medical personnel and the city’s first TCM team dispatched to Wuhan to aid the virus fight. They are from five Shenzhen hospitals.

Shenzhen dispatched five medical teams of 77 experienced doctors and nurses to join the fight against COVID-19 in Hubei starting Feb. 9.