Second makeshift hospital in epicenter Wuhan delivered, put into operation
By Tian Doudou, Han Chenglin, People’s Daily
China’s second makeshift hospital to battle against the novel coronavirus in epicenter Wuhan on Feb. 6 completed acceptance testing by the city’s urban construction department and health commission after 10 days of construction.
The first batch of medical teams have entered the hospital, received the first batch of patients of the novel coronavirus pneumonia on Feb. 8.
The decision to build the hospital, located on the bank of Huangjia Lake in the Jiangxia district, was made by Wuhan immediately after the first makeshift hospital Huoshenshan broke ground on Jan. 25, the first day of the Chinese New Year. The Leishenshan Hospital was requested to be built in half a month.
In face of the rapid spreading of the novel coronavirus, the hospital expanded its total designed construction area three times from 50,000 square meters to 75,000 square meters and finally 80,000 square meters. It’s designed capacity was also expanded from 1,300 beds to nearly 1,600 beds. The size of Leishenshan is twice as that of Huoshenshan.
The Leishenshan Hospital uses modular design based on layout of field hospital, and includes three major areas: one for treatment, one for medical workers’ logistical support, and one for auxiliary treatment.
CNBC covered the whole construction process of the Leishenshan Hospital in articles, pictures and videos, saying the construction of the new facilities echoes the rapid completion of Beijing’s Xiaotangshan hospital in 2003 built to treat patients affected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
During an interview of Philippine newspaper Watchmen Daily Journal, an 84-year-old historian said she admired the Chinese government for their “efficiency and effectiveness in responding to the need of its people,” noting that such speed was just like magic.
CNN noted that the “cohorting,” or zoning of the patients in the Leishenshan Hospital is very important, citing Emergency medicine physician Dr. Solomon Kuah who helped the International Rescue Committee coordinate the construction of emergency hospitals during a 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Such design can effectively make up for the deficiency of the hospital, and it’s necessary to divide patients of differing levels of contagiousness.
Both the lockdown of Wuhan and the Chinese New Year made it extremely difficult to seek materials and labors for the construction of the hospital. However, the employees of the Wuhan branches of the China State Construction Engineering, China State Railway Investment Construction Group, China Construction Science and Industry Corporation, China Construction Industrial & Energy Engineering Group, and China Construction Third Engineering Bureau showed great enthusiasm for contributing their power, applying to go to the “frontline”.
The number of constructers at the site kept growing, from hundreds to thousands. As of Feb. 4, there were over 1,000 managers and nearly 8,000 workers working at site day and night, and more than 1,400 large machineries and transportation vehicles were running busily. A total of 3,000 container houses, as well as 3,300 sets of mechanical and electrical installation tools have been shipped to the construction sites.
“What makes the construction speed is the innovation of China’s construction technology,” said Wu Hongtao, secretary of the Party committee of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau First Engineering Co., Ltd., who directed the construction at site.
He introduced that both Leishenshan and Huoshenshan Hospitals adopted cutting-edge construction technologies, and used as many assembly parts as possible to reduce field workload and save time. Besides, the construction and integral hoisting were carried out in an alternative manner, which maximized the efficiency.
As a result, the Leishenshan Hospital was finally completed in just 10 days, and will make full contribution to the battle against the novel coronavirus.
