A Wuhan doctor who shared facts on the new coronavirus on social media broke her silence. The medical personnel said authorities muzzled her for raising the alarm without their permission at the beginning of the outbreak.
Ai Fen, director of the emergency department at Wuhan Central Hospital, told Chinese mag People that she uploaded a diagnostic record on social network WeChat on December 30, 2019. The photo showed that the patient had pneumonia infection due to a Sars-like coronavirus.
Ai's interview indicates local health government in Wuhan, the center of the epidemic, missed an opportunity to issue a warning about an impending outbreak earlier than the virus outbreak.
Whistleblower's interview deleted on WeChat
The interview was published on Tuesday, Mar. 10, but later deleted from the magazine's WeChat account, prompting angry netizens to repost the article on different platforms.
It additionally coincided with President Xi Jinping's first visit to Wuhan since the disaster began, throughout which he praised citizens for their hard work and sacrifices.
In the interview, Ai said she initially shared the patient's diagnostic file with a messaging group on WeChat. The users who saw the post then circulated the photo.
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Ai said the data, which she had shared with a colleague, bothered her because the disease seemed to be just like excessive acute respiratory syndrome.
World Health Organization said the Sars epidemic 17 years ago infected more than 8,000 human beings worldwide and killed over 800.
She told the mag she alerted the hospital's community health provider center and infectious disease control department immediately.
Whistleblower ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, 34, who was also reprimanded through public protection officials for "spreading rumors," was among those people who shared Ai's image with others.
He died on Feb. 6 after contracting the virus. Li's death caused an outpouring of grief and anger over the managing of the crisis.
Wuhan health commission says healthcare professionals are 'banned' from revealing facts on COVID-19
Fen was informed by her superiors that Wuhan's health commission had issued a directive that medical employees are banned from revealing something about the COVID-19. Soon after, the hospital reminded all personnel that public disclosure related to the infection was forbidden.
Two days later, an official in charge of the medical institution's supervision department gave Ai a memo for "spreading rumors" - a reference to the photograph she had posted online.
The official, according to the magazine, told Ai to notify everyone in the department not to reveal anything on the disease to everyone --- including their immediate family members.
"My mind just went blank," Ai said. She added the officials made her feel that she alone had "ruined" Wuhan's future.
Doctor says she does not intend to do anything wrong
Ai added a clinic nurse, got infected a week later. The nurse was initially diagnosed with "viral pneumonia" but was then detected with coronavirus.
Ai told People that she believed her moves did not do any wrongdoings in her profession. "I followed my instinct as a doctor - so what mistakes did I make?" she asked.
The Wuhan doctor also expressed her regret that she did not warn more people on the virus. "They [doctors] would not have died if they have been warned about the disease earlier," she added.
If Ai could have known how the outbreak would turn out, she said she could have told the public on the main problem despite being warned by the government.
Ai's feedback additionally shed light on views on the outbreak's source.
On New Year's Day, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market near Ai's health facility - believed to be in which the virus originated - was ordered to close. But Ai stated she had observed a stream of pneumonia sufferers weeks earlier than officials showed human-to-human transmission of the virus became possible.
In the beginning, these sufferers all shared some reference to the market. But as the days went by, greater cluster cases - and especially family cluster cases - emerged.
Wuhan Central Hospital might turn out to be one of the city's maximum critically hit medical facilities, with four docs including Li succumbing to Covid-19. Another of the clinic's doctors are reportedly in crucial condition.
