FAHZU experts provide Argentine officials with experience in fight against COVID-19
Medical experts from The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU) in East China held a video conference with officials of the health system of Argentina. (Xinhua/ Xi Yue)
On Friday night (March 20th, Argentine time), a dozen officials from Argentina's health system held a video conference with Chinese medical experts from Zhejiang Province to better understand China's experience in combating the COVID-19 epidemic.
In the past two hours, Argentina's minister of health, Ginés González García, and his colleagues have held consultations based on the current situation in South America, as well as Chinese doctors in FAHZU. They shared their experiences and lessons learned from the outbreak of the virus in China at the end of January.
Topics discussed ranged from the most effective prevention measures to the use and mixing of proven case drugs, as well as the treatment of elderly patients and pregnant women with underlying diseases.
As explained by González García, the government of Argentina has begun to take steps step by step and announced on 19th, March the introduction of compulsory isolation throughout the country from 20th to 31st this month to prevent the spread of the epidemic, with 225 cases confirmed as of 21st March among which 4 are critically ill.
"We want to learn from China, from the disease it has suffered and is still suffering, how it has successfully controlled this disease and how it has minimized its impact on the Chinese people. This kind of exchange and cooperation we are carrying out is very important. I want to refer to China's technology and suggestions. "
At present, countries in South America must speed up infection testing, find suspected cases and isolate them for effective prevention and control, added Sheng Jifang, Director of Infectious Diseases Department of FAHZU.
As the designated hospital of receiving COVID-19 patients in Zhejiang Province, FAHZU has handled more than 100 confirmed cases, 80% of which are in serious or critical state. Although many of them suffer from basic diseases, the hospital has remained zero death and no medical staff has been infected.
After learning about these positive results of FAHZU, Argentine officials raised further questions about the type of drugs used, the dosage of each drug, possible side effects, etc. In addition, they also wanted to know the standards to be followed in terms of discharge and treatment of patients.
In this regard, Liang Tingbo, Chairman of FAHZU, and other experts exemplified their practice, and the Argentines noted and sincerely expressed gratitude to them.
"This kind of cooperation will be a normal practice, and we are ready to exchange views with foreign counterparts, because cooperation is the best prescription," Porf. Liang said.
Another step is that doctors of FAHZU will consult online to respond to patients and doctors around the world.
The video conference with Argentina was the fourth one for FAHZU after with experts from the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy over the past 10 days.
