SHANGHAI, April 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- At 7:00 pm Beijing
time on April 6, Fosun hosted a
global virtual conference on fighting against COVID-19 on the 39th
floor of Fosun's headquarters - the Bund Finance Center in
Shanghai.
On the screen, experts with a myriad of fighting COVID-19
experience from China's
Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou and the head of Fosun Pharma's
medical team in support of Hubei
Province joined a group of healthcare experts and physicians
from the US, Portugal and the UK,
discussing the way forward in the worldwide battle against the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on China's specific the
policy guidance and clinical experience in responding to the
epidemic situation, professor Zhu Chouwen, who is leader of the
Zhongshan Hospital's medical team for aid to Hubei, first shared his experience of managing
COVID-19 designated hospitals. Zhu said, "The National Health and
Safety Commission issued seven editions of diagnosis and treatment
guidance to all China's medical
practitioners. Many countries have their own mechanisms and
systems. It is very important to plan and diagnose, and execute the
treatment plan according to the specific epidemic situation. Only
by joining hands, can we win the battle against the epidemic. "
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Fosun has
actively participated in the fight against the epidemic in
China and around the world, and
has joined hands to provide assistance to the world. Chen Qiyu,
Co-CEO of Fosun International and Chairman of Fosun Pharma,
expressed his gratitude to the experts from all over the world.
Chen said: "Since January 23, Fosun's
Wuhan Jihe Hospital is listed as a COVID-19 designated treatment
hospital. We have invested in the fight against the epidemic in all
aspects. From the global procurement and donation of anti-epidemic
materials to the development of diagnostic reagents and vaccines,
we have been fighting for nearly three months. The infection rate
of our medical staff is zero. With the joint efforts of everyone,
the current epidemic in China has
been effectively controlled, but the epidemic is still spreading
around the world, and Fosun's global anti-epidemic actions are
continuing. We look forward to such experience sharing activities
for everyone, so we can provide practical help and support to each
other!"
Conference highlights
Since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, Fosun has been
participating in the domestic and global anti-pandemic efforts,
joining hands with other forces to provide assistance worldwide.
This conference features China's
top health experts from Shanghai,
Beijing and Guangdong, including Prof. Zhu Chouwen, Deputy
Director of Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and
the leader of China's
anti-COVID-19 medical team for Hubei
Province; Prof. Liu Zhengyin, the Infectious Disease Section
of the Department of Internal Medicine, Peking Union Medical
College Hospital; Prof. Hu Bijie, Director of Department of
Infectious Diseases and Director of Department of Hospital
Infection Management at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, a
member of China's expert team for
COVID-19 treatment, and a member of the Shanghai medical rescue expert group; Prof.
Gao Xinglin, Director of Respiratory Medicine Department of the
Eastern Ward, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital and Prof. Jia
Xiaomin, Chief Physician of Respiratory Medicine at The Second
Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical
University and the leader of Fosun Pharma's anti-COVID-19
medical team supporting Hubei
Province; whilst overseas attendees included frontline
hospital representatives and healthcare experts from countries and
regions, such as the US, the UK, Portugal, India and African countries, who carried out
in-depth experience sharing and idea exchanges with team
China.
The treatment of severe patients tops as the first common
concern to all the overseas hospitals. As the member of first batch
among Peking Union Medical College Hospital's national team to help
out Wuhan, Prof. Liu Zhengyin is
the chief physician of the Department of Infectious Diseases. He,
has extensive experience in the treatment of severe diseases. Based
on his experience with a 63-year old patient, early clinical
diagnosis is key to determine when severe illness has transformed
into critical illness. Quick identification plays an important
judgmental role in treatment decisions. Prof. Hu Bijie, member of
the National and Shanghai COVID-19 Medical Treatment Expert Group
and Director of the Infectious Diseases Department of Zhongshan
Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, also touched the same
topic when sharing the "Shanghai Experience". He said, we should
pay more attention to make sure that minor syndrome and
medium-level patients don't develop towards severely ill patients,
while critically ill patients should not become fatal ones.
Individualized treatments and rigorous follow-ups are the main
elements of successful treatment for critically illness.
Shanghai has adopted a strategy of
centralized treatment yet management of individual patients with
customized specifications. The success rate of treatment is very
high, with a mortality rate of about 1.2%. He pointed out although
there is no special medicine for COVID-19 yet, it is very important
to use antiviral drugs correctly to avoid the abuse of hormones and
broad-spectrum antibiotics drugs. In the view of the experts at the
meeting, the strategy of global prevention and control is
inseparable from coordination. The joint efforts should come from
several basic elements: discovery of the infection source, cutting
off the transmission route, and protection of vulnerable
groups.
Sharing experiences: Fosun's global anti-epidemic entered
into a new stage
This conference is one of Fosun Pharma's many efforts against
the pandemic. At one end, there were Chinese experts well
experienced in battling against COVID-19; at the other end was
overseas hospitals fighting the pandemic at the front line right
now. Zhu Chouwen from Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan
University and the Hubei-supported
medical team shared the highlights of his management experience
with designated COVID-19 hospitals and opined that social
distancing is the most effective measure: the only way to minimise
the morbidity rate and maximise the recovery one is insisting on
scientific prevention, control and treatment and continuously
enhancing treatment plans and methods. Meanwhile, countries
around the world should work together to combat the COVID-19
epidemics. This was followed by Dr Laura Robbins, Senior Vice President of Hospital
for Special Surgery, New York, who
explained the situation of designated COVID-19 hospitals in
New York, as well as Prof.
Steve Field, former Deputy Medical
Director for NHS England; Prof. Prof José Paiva, Director, National
Inf Dis Control & Viral Resistance Project, Portugal Ms
Isabel Vaz , Chief Executive
Officer, Luz Saúde , Portugal, who illustrated the pandemic
situations and related prevention and control progress in the UK
and Portugal respectively. At
present, the global pandemic situation is not positive, with the
number of confirmed cases exceeding 330,000 in the US, nearing
50,000 in the UK and topping 10,000 in Portugal; therefore, the conference organised
by Fosun Pharma this time offered the world "the right help at the
right time".
The treatment of severe cases is one of the issues concerning
attendees from overseas hospitals. As the leader of the first
national anti-COVID-19 medical team and a professor at the
Infectious Disease Section of the Department of Internal Medicine
at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Liu Zhengyin shared
on a specific topic from his experience in treating severely ill
patients in the intensive care unit. From the viewpoint of the
expert attendees (including Liu Zhengyin), hospitals are the front
line of the battle, but as medical workers are fighting the war, we
should bear in mind protection of medical staff is, another equally
important battle. Since COVID-19 is highly infectious, it is not
easy to keep cases infected in hospitals at zero. Prof. Hu Bijie,
who once fought the SARS epidemic in 2003, had a particularly deep
understanding. Having worked in the anti-infectious field for more
than 30 years and rescued numerous patients at the front line, Hu
shared the experience of metropolis Shanghai in the fight against COVID-19 and
repeatedly stressed the importance of maintaining a sense of
defence for medical workers. A veteran with similar experience,
Prof. Jia Xiaomin combined his personal experience in treating
patients at the Hubei General Hospital Medical and Wuhan Jihe
Hospital in common ways to prevent and control COVID-19 infections
at hospitals and protect healthcare workers. Speaking of the day
when the hospital was removed from the list of designated COVID-19
hospitals, he slightly lamented: "Since the hospital was designated
on January 23, we had been fighting
for 51 straight days, treating and discharging 515 patients and
achieving 0% in the fatality rate and the infection rate for
healthcare workers".
Fosun's global assistance never stops
Since the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the global staffs of
Fosun has been participating in this battle. On March 1, Fosun officially kick-started the second
phase of its battle against COVID-19, where it jointly initiated a
global aid action with other caring companies under the guidance of
the national foreign aid work framework, and exported medical
supplies overseas by urgently allocating global resources. As of
March 31, Fosun had allocated
resources to multiple hard-hit overseas countries such as
Italy, the US, France, Germany, the UK, Portugal, Japan, Korea and India, having various types of health
protective materials including a total of 2.523 million face masks,
protective gowns and nucleic acid detection reagents delivered.
Currently, Fosun Pharma has been accelerating in its businesses
of research and development of diagnostic reagents and vaccines
related to COVID-19, which have obtained urgent approval from the
National Medical Products Administration and the CE certification
respectively, and have been exported as donations or products sold
to overseas countries, including South
Korea, Portugal,
Hungary, Germany and Indonesia. With regards to the vaccine, Fosun
Pharma has partnered with BioNTech, the world's leading mRNA
therapy company, in COVID-19 vaccine development. In view of the
international spread of COVID-19, Fosun's initiated global aid
action still continues.
"As a multinational corporation, we hope to contribute our due
efforts to helping the world win this battle against COVID-19. We
very much care about the health and safety of our overseas staff
and customers and will firmly stand with the people of this world
against the pandemic. I believe so long as we unit together for
collective wisdom and mutual help, we must be able to overcome this
obstacle and beat this coronavirus," commented Guo Guangchang,
chairman and co-founder of Fosun International.
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