Chapter 281 I need you to hand over the secret recipe
The next day, early in the morning.
Director Zhu of the Health Bureau, President Tu and Vice President Ye of Union Hospital, with their hands behind their backs, walked in and out of several temporary tents set up by the Chinese Medicine Hospital, observing the patients sitting or lying inside.
Unlike yesterday when they looked gloomy and groaned in pain, almost all the patients in the tent today have shown obvious improvement.
They were either sitting there chatting with each other, or lying on the makeshift beds and sleeping soundly, and some were even jumping around.
If Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye had not seen with their own eyes how sick they looked when they were admitted to the hospital yesterday, it would have been hard to tell that they had suffered a serious illness.
Dean Tu couldn't help it and asked Dean Shen, who was looking up at him:
"Old Shen, were these people admitted to the hospital yesterday? Did you create a group of fake patients to fool us?"
Director Zhu smiled but said nothing, because he and the staff from the health department had been helping on the scene and were certain that the patients had not been switched at night.
Dean Shen no longer looked frantic. He had returned to his innocent, smiling self.
"Ah, old butcher, I see what you are talking about. I am willing to act, but those patients are unwilling to cooperate. You say I can find 70 or 80 extras, but can these thousands of patients cooperate with me?"
Vice President Ye also asked with a heavy face:
"Old Shen, how many patients did you see yesterday? What percentage of patients have had their fevers reduced so far? What's the mortality rate?"
People who specialize in Western medicine believe in clinical data and don’t like to make rough estimates.
Dean Shen wanted to let Lin Sanqi show off, so he looked around:
"Is Comrade Lin Sanqi here? Come, as the deputy leader of the front-line command center, answer Dean Ye's question. Oh, by the way, I want to emphasize that I am personally the leader of this front-line command center.
In addition, a temporary working group composed of key doctors from various departments of our hospital has been formed. They have used the best medicinal materials and spared no effort to treat patients, demonstrating the importance our Chinese medicine hospital attaches to the epidemic."
Dean Zhu nodded repeatedly when he heard this:
"The Chinese medicine hospital's approach is correct. It also shows the importance and foresight of the Chinese medicine hospital in fighting the epidemic and defending the capital. It is worthy of learning for all our hospitals."
Lin Sanqi thought, when did our hospital set up this so-called front-line anti-epidemic command center?
Knowing that this was Dean Shen bragging in front of his colleagues again, Lin Sanqi did not expose it and replied with a smile:
"Yesterday, we received a total of 2,080 patients, including 820 adults and 1,260 children. After a day and a night of treatment, 1,600 patients had normal body temperatures and the death rate is currently zero.
Among the other 480 patients with fever, none of them are in danger of life, and most of them have seen significant improvement in body temperature.
Therefore, in order to speed up the patient turnover rate and allow more patients to receive treatment, our hospital has decided to allow all patients with normal body temperatures or those not exceeding 38°C to go home after receiving their medication, freeing up beds for us to continue to see the next batch of patients.
When Lin Sanqi reported this data, everyone present gasped.
Laymen might think this data is just so-so, as there are still hundreds of people suffering from fever. Only those in the know know how exaggerated this data is.
For a plague characterized by fever, you were able to allow most patients to recover from fever and return home within a day. This is definitely a medical miracle.
If it had happened in previous years, who knows how many people would have died from the plague.
A similar plague broke out in Peking in 1940, with the death toll reaching more than 30,000. In the eyes of doctors, this was a normal plague. How could a plague not kill people?
When Dean Tu heard this data, his heartbeat quickened a bit, and he questioned:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, I don't know what medicine you used, but I believe you can reduce the fever of most patients within a day. However, diseases have their own patterns and are prone to recurrence. Are you so sure that these patients won't have a fever again?"
Lin Sanqi has some understanding of the infectious disease influenza A.
Influenza A is extremely sensitive to drugs
Or the antiviral drugs such as Mabaloxavir and Oseltamivir have no effect at all, and it is useless to take them, and the high fever persists, and you have to wait for yourself to recover.
Either it works immediately and the fever won’t recur.
That was why Lin Sanqi was so confident in letting the patients whose fever had subsided go home, because he was confident that the condition of these patients would not relapse. As for those who were weak, they needed to be treated with food, and it had nothing to do with the hospital's affairs.
In theory, these patients can be better managed together to prevent them from returning home and spreading the virus.
Unfortunately, 1960 was not 2013. The country at that time did not have the financial resources and ability to build temporary hospitals. Let alone medicine, just providing food for tens of thousands of people was a huge problem.
Of course, Lin Sanqi also took precautions and gave each patient who returned home a few packets of antipyretic powder.
Dean Tu suddenly put his arm around Dean Shen's shoulders:
"Old Shen, come on, tell me what medicine you used? Your traditional Chinese medicine treatment wasn't very effective before, so how did it suddenly work overnight? I'm very curious."
Dean Shen asked smugly, "So what? Now you admit that your Western medicine is inferior to our Chinese medicine, right?"
Lin Sanqi thought: Boss, stop bragging. We actually still use Western medicine...
Dean Tu was also single and did not make any excuses:
"Medicine is what it is, and what it is effective. I don't deny that. I just wonder what magic weapon you Chinese medicine practitioners have found? Or what Chinese herbal medicine is miraculously effective against this plague?"
Dean Shen coughed lightly:
"Even if you want to know, I can't tell you. This is the Lin family's exclusive secret recipe passed down from generation to generation. The Lin family's willingness to help us in time is already the greatest help to our work. We can't ask for too much, right?"
Now everyone in the Chinese medicine hospital knows that the basic ingredient of the decoction given to patients is a simple honeysuckle.
As for what secret recipe the Lin family used, no one knows. After all, the Lin family added the secret medicine behind closed doors.
Many doctors are secretly researching the specific ingredients of the secret recipe. However, after much research, they still cannot even identify the approximate ingredients or even a single medicinal ingredient.
Vice President Ye felt a little sorry after hearing this:
"Ah, this is a wonderful treasure! This secret recipe is not only effective, but can also be used in large quantities. It is simply the best choice for fighting the plague."
At this time, Ping Shuilong from the Health Bureau suddenly interrupted:
"Since this secret recipe is so important to the epidemic, it should be handed over. The next time a similar epidemic occurs, it can be promoted nationwide. This way, countless lives can be saved."
As soon as these words were spoken, they resonated with many people. Obviously, most people agreed with this statement, including the medical staff of Union Hospital.
But the people at the Chinese medicine hospital had different expressions.
Traditional Chinese medicine is different from Western medicine. There is no such thing as secret recipe in Western medicine. At most, there is the term "miracle medicine".
Moreover, the ingredients of Western medicine need to be disclosed. If it were not protected by patent law, it would be very simple to copy a Western medicine. Just look at what the Indians did.
However, there is a saying in Traditional Chinese Medicine that there are "secret recipes handed down from ancestors". You can say that Traditional Chinese Medicine is narrow-minded and not philanthropic enough, but the rule within the TCM industry is that secret recipes handed down from ancestors must not be leaked or made public.
Everyone's eyes turned to the only member of the Lin family present, Lin Sanqi.
Lin Sanqi prepared to play dead and pretend not to hear.
Nonsense, his so-called secret recipe is not Chinese medicine at all, but black technology from later generations.
The birth of a drug involves multiple disciplines including chemistry, pharmacy, pharmacognosy, drug analysis, microbiology and biotechnology, pharmacology, clinical pharmacy, etc.
With the domestic technology and drug extraction technology in 1960, it was impossible to produce mabaloxavir and oseltamivir.
The production of Western medicine is still a link in the industrial chain, and it requires the cooperation of multiple factories to produce it. The level of complexity involved is simply beyond the imagination of a primitive man.
Otherwise, why would Shanghai Pharmaceutical Factory No. 3 import penicillin raw materials from abroad? Because they couldn't even produce the raw materials.
When smart people see Lin Sanqi not saying anything, they know that this is Lin Sanqi's rejection through silence.
But Ping Shuilong was obviously not satisfied with Lin Sanqi's attitude:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, as a cadre, you accepted... that means serving the people wholeheartedly,... not... "
Lin Sanqi and Dean Shen looked at each other, and Dean Shen shook his head slightly, actually signaling Lin Sanqi not to speak and continue to play dead.
Lin Sanqi looked at Director Zhu again, but Director Zhu looked up at the sky as if a UFO was flying in the sky.
…
…
…
…
The matter was over, and Lin Sanqi was about to leave when he was stopped by Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye.
Dean Tu asked with a smile:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, there's a question I haven't had time to ask you yet. What are your thoughts on this epidemic? How did it occur? What's the root cause? How can we effectively prevent it?"
When Lin Sanqi heard that the question was a professional one, he became excited. He didn't understand Chinese medicine, but he did understand Western medicine.
"Dean Tu, based on my analysis, this plague should be classified as influenza, and it is ultimately caused by influenza virus infection."
"Virus?"
Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye were overjoyed.
"You said it was caused by a virus? That's a Western medical concept. Shouldn't you explain it with something like yin and yang, the five elements, or warm, hot, and cold syndromes?"
The two deans were happy that Lin Sanqi used Western medical concepts to explain, indicating that he might be a Western medicine spy lurking inside the Chinese medicine hospital, so they could make good use of him.
In the fields of the Chinese Medicine Hospital farm, Lin Sanqi, President Tu and Vice President Ye of Union Hospital, as well as President Shen and Vice President Ji of the Chinese Medicine Hospital sat together.
Without the interference of outsiders, the topics among insiders are more pure.
Dean Shen and Vice Dean Ji were not there to accompany their colleagues from Union Hospital. Instead, they saw their colleagues from Union Hospital stop Lin Sanqi and stayed to support him.
The four deans did not mind the dirt and sat together on the ridges of the field, eating a handful of fried edamame that Lin Sanqi had found.
Lin Sanqi bit into the edamame and reminded:
"Think about it, in 1957, Asia experienced the Asian flu, which affected Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries. The symptoms were the same as the current Changping epidemic, mainly high fever."
"Asian Flu?"
Dean Shen and Vice Dean Ji, who came out of the Chinese Medicine Hospital, were obviously confused. This was the first time they had heard of it.
Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye obviously had foreign sources of information and were not completely ignorant. They said in surprise:
"In 1957... there seemed to be a global flu outbreak. I heard quite a few people died..."
The Asian flu of 1957 was large in scale and highly contagious, killing at least 2.8 million people across Asia and thus went down in history.
The fact that relevant information about Lin Sanqi can be found on the Internet shows how serious it is.
Fortunately, because we had almost no personnel exchanges with other countries in 1957, no serious harm was caused to our country, and we escaped a disaster.
"Our country is also in Asia. In fact, the large-scale influenza wave in 1957 also affected our country. For example, half of the population of Shanghai was infected. In addition, my hometown Huadu also had a serious influenza outbreak, so I know about it."
These two regions are among the few windows for opening up to the outside world in the country, and they have a lot of dealings with foreigners, so they are the first to be affected.
Judging from the reactions of several hospital directors, it is clear that the country did not take the Asian flu of 1957 seriously, and there has been no relevant literature to find, which shows how backward the medical care is.
Dean Tu then asked:
"Comrade Xiaolin, how can you be so sure that the outbreak in Changping is caused by the flu? Judging based solely on symptoms doesn't guarantee preparedness."
Lin Sanqi took out a test paper from his pocket and explained softly:
"Deans, I trust you. What I said today must not be known to outsiders."
Several deans nodded repeatedly. People are curious after all.
"This is a flu test strip in my hand. The principle is that since breathing and food both pass through the mouth, there are all kinds of bacteria and viruses parasitic in the mouth or nasopharynx, including the flu virus.
A throat swab specimen is made by using a medical cotton swab to collect a small amount of secretions from the throat of the human body, placing it in this liquid, and then dripping it onto the swab. After a while, the display will be checked. If there are two bars, it is positive for influenza, otherwise it is negative.
"Is it that simple?" Dean Tu's eyes were full of disbelief.
"This is the simplest testing method. More complex methods include virus culture isolation, antigen detection, and serological testing. However, given the current laboratory conditions in our country, it is estimated that these cannot be carried out."
When talking about the medical instruments and laboratory equipment, both Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye looked embarrassed.
Dean Tu held the test tube and said doubtfully:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, Dean Ye and I can honestly promise you that we will never reveal the content of today's conversation. Could you please tell us where your test tube, including the drugs you used this time, came from?"
Lin Sanqi shrugged: "Dean Tu, don't you already have your own guesses? Haha."
"Little rascal!"
Dean Tu cursed with a smile. He had studied in the United States and his ideas were not conservative. On the contrary, Dean Tu was in favor of exchanges with foreign countries.
Intellectuals only have academic issues in their minds and don't consider too many political factors.
Suddenly, Dean Tu lowered his voice and asked:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, since you have connections abroad and can get these wipes, do you have any way to get some scientific research equipment and experimental instruments?"
Vice President Ye also asked anxiously, "Or surgical instruments would be good. They've stopped importing them now and are in such short supply."
Union Hospital is different from traditional Chinese medicine hospitals.
When a Chinese doctor treats a patient, all he needs is a pulse pillow, and at most some small items such as acupuncture and cupping. He can even pick the required medicinal herbs himself in the mountains, and basically does not need to ask anyone for help.
But Western medicine is different. The so-called Western medicine is a popular term. Strictly speaking, it should be called "modern medicine."
Modern hospitals originated in Europe and the United States, developed and grew in Europe and the United States, and their main markets are also in European and American countries, including Japan, which broke away from Asia and joined Europe early on.
Therefore, whether it is medicines, surgical instruments, auxiliary examination equipment, laboratory instruments, etc., almost all of them rely on foreign imports.
As a result, as soon as our country was founded, the United States immediately imposed a blockade, and we were doomed.
This is also the reason why people can be covered with the national flag after their death. It is like providing timely assistance, and it happens at the risk of one's own life.
Of course, the country did not treat him unfairly. It gave him gold and silver when doing business with him, and also sent bodyguards from China and the N Sea to protect him.
Otherwise, how could this wealthy man have guaranteed his personal safety and become a wealthy man despite being strictly targeted by the colonial government? Where did he get the money and people?
Lin Sanqi actually wanted to become such a tycoon.
He could collaborate with domestic companies, not worry about any storms blowing up on him, and still make a fortune, enjoy the luxurious life of capitalism, legally marry three wives, and have 13 children...
Seeing that the two presidents of Union Medical College were so eager to get equipment and instruments, Lin Sanqi tentatively asked:
"President Tu, Vice President Ye, may I ask how your Union Hospital is conducting its work now? How are you addressing the shortage of medicines and equipment?"
Dean Tu smiled bitterly and said:
“You may not believe this, but the instruments and equipment we have now are divided into two types. Some are left over from the Republic of China government, and the other are donated by the Soviet Union. But whether they are from Europe or the United States or the Soviet Union, they cannot be easily used now.
So we are now unable to carry out clinical trials, and even auxiliary examinations are difficult. One reason is that the machine is broken and there are no parts to replace it. Another reason is that there is a shortage of laboratory consumables. The original ones have been used up long ago and we can’t buy new ones.
For example, last year, Shanghai Medical University claimed to have successfully trial-produced a 400-milliampere large-scale X-ray machine and provided one to Zhongshan Hospital. But we at Union Hospital have been waiting, and now Shanghai Medical University tells us it's still in production.
I guess they imported some parts, assembled them themselves, and then boasted about it. Now, they're at a loss when it comes to mass production. They've only produced one or two experimental models, which can't solve the domestic X-ray shortage problem at all."
Vice President Ye also complained:
"There's also the issue of medicine. The country's biggest shortage right now is actually antibacterial drugs like penicillin—oh, right, now called penicillin. In 1953, the Shanghai Third Pharmaceutical Factory successfully trial-produced the first domestically produced penicillin, ending the era of importing penicillin from abroad.
As a result, once it was localized, it was ruined.
Originally, there was a shortage, at least some. But after domestic production, it became impossible to import. I personally went to the Shanghai Third Pharmaceutical Factory, and guess what? A small workshop with just over a dozen people producing penicillin, with an annual output of only a few dozen kilograms. Who could use it?
and……"
Vice President Ye looked around and said in a low voice:
"And as far as I know, this strain was secretly brought back from the United States by a patriotic overseas student. It was extremely difficult, so the production volume cannot be increased."
Lin Sanqi blinked a few times, thinking that penicillin was so easy to get in 2013. A bottle of injection with 1.6 million units could be bought for just a few cents.
In 1960, the price of penicillin was still 50,000 or 100,000 per unit, which was very expensive.
As a profiteer who traveled between the two worlds, Lin Sanqi keenly discovered business opportunities.
He didn't dare to do it before, for fear of being caught, sliced into pieces, or even killed.
Now he is bolder and has someone to back him up.
Thinking of this, Lin Sanqi asked tentatively:
"President Tu, Vice President Ye, if I had a friend who could get penicillin and the lab equipment you need, including surgical instruments and so on, would you like them?"
Dean Shen coughed lightly a few times beside him.
Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye were a little stunned, their minds still unable to wrap around, and then they were ecstatic:
"Yes, of course. We'll take as many as you can get. Both medicine and surgical instruments are strategic materials. The more the better!"
"Ahem, don't be too happy too soon. What are you going to exchange for it?"
Dean Shen rolled his eyes at them. He had already seen that these two people from Xiehe were looking for free food. No matter what Lin Sanqi could get, he would take it all. Of course, there was a price...
Dean Tu and Vice Dean Ye looked at each other and immediately realized the core of the problem.
What's the point of empty talk when it comes to getting "foreign" medicines and equipment? The problem is that not only is Union Hospital short of foreign exchange, but the entire country is also short of foreign exchange.
(In 1960, the country's foreign exchange reserves were only US$40 million, and foreign trade was almost entirely based on barter.)
Dean Tu rubbed his hands and said embarrassedly: "Our hospital still has some savings, we can pay..."
Dean Shen said disdainfully: “Is it RMB?”
"Yeah."
Lin Sanqi didn't care: "Dean Tu, you can actually exchange it with something else."
Help! All the wonderful conflicts have been deleted~~~~
(End of this chapter)
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