Chapter 282 Nipancillin is a sky-high price
Dean Tu was crying and snotting as he described his difficult life:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, you don't know how hard it is for us at PUMC. Our strength may not be world-class, but it's at least among the best in Asia, right? It can be said that the history of PUMC is half the history of Chinese medicine.
"Let's not talk about anything else. Just the total investment to build the Union Medical College and Union Hospital was over 48 million US dollars. That's 48 million US dollars in the Republic of China era. Isn't that amazing? All the equipment and instruments at Union Hospital are imported from the United States and are the most advanced."
Lin Sanqi thought, medicine really requires money. Without investment, there is no output. It is equivalent to the national foreign exchange reserves in 1960 only being able to build one hospital?
"Our Union Hospital officially opened in 1920 and has not only become the most prestigious hospital in the country, but almost all of the country's most outstanding medical talents have been trained by our hospital. It's no exaggeration to say that we are the founders of modern Chinese medicine."
Lin Sanqi thought, yes, yes, you are so awesome. Liang Qichao's left kidney was obviously damaged, but you at Union Hospital removed his healthy right kidney.
As a result, this core figure of the "Hundred Days' Reform" in the late Qing Dynasty, one of the four major mentors of Tsinghua National Academy, a world-renowned master of Chinese studies, politician, educator, and social activist was forced to meet Musk.
Wait, Liang Qichao should have gone to Emperor Guangxu, right?
Dean Tu said this and punched the ground hard:
"But now, foreign countries won't sell us anything, not even basic medicines, but instruments and equipment. As a result, our doctors have many skills but no place to use them.
We are doctors, we treat illnesses and save lives. This is related to the livelihood of every ordinary person. Why don't you sell it to us? We are not using it to make weapons, nor are we harming any country. Does the right to life also depend on ideology?
These imperialists have watched helplessly as we, the Chinese people, have died one by one. Where has their promised mercy? Where has their promised universal love? Where has their promised innate wholeness and equality for all? To put it bluntly, each of them is ugly and cold-blooded at heart.
Lin Sanqi thought, that’s right, all this and that, in the end it’s just about that little bit of business.
Just like in later generations, when Europe and the United States provoked wars in the East and conflicts in the West, was it really for the sake of "human security"? In fact, to put it bluntly, it was to promote their own weapons, so that they could share resources such as oil and minerals and make a fortune from the war.
The lives of ordinary people in other countries, are they also called lives?
For these imperialists, if they get ruthless, they won’t even consider the lives of their own people. Otherwise, why would they send their own soldiers abroad to fight?
Dean Tu's words resonated strongly with Lin Sanqi:
"Yes, President Tu, you're right. They say medicine has no borders, but why do we have borders here? We've finally achieved a lead in a certain area, and yet they're trying every possible way to suppress us, unable to bear the slightest bit of our success.
Lin Sanqi refers to an academician in the field of hepatobiliary medicine.
At that time, European and American countries criticized Academician Zheng for the unknown source of his organs. All medical journals refused to publish the academician's papers and banned him from participating in relevant international conferences.
It is indeed difficult to clear this from a legal perspective, because everyone knows the source of organs in China.
Then, where do the organs used by European and American medical scientists and doctors in their research come from? This is also questionable.
Do so many people in the US, the US, or France really donate their organs after death? Are they lining up to have their organs harvested for research?
If there are really so many organs, why is there such a thriving black market for them in Eastern Europe and North America? Where have so many Eastern Europeans and South Americans gone missing?
Why is the world's largest organ black market in the United States?
To put it bluntly, the human organs needed by major hospitals and research institutions in Europe and the United States do not require doctors to do it themselves, but can be purchased through "ghost ships" on the high seas.
These ghost ships hold a large number of healthy young people, even children. These people were kidnapped or deceived from all over the world. Once on the ghost ships, they were locked in iron cages like animals.
When an order comes in from a wealthy person, requiring a certain model of kidney or liver, they find the person who is the best match, kill him, take out the organs, and send them directly to the nearest airport by helicopter, and then transport them to all parts of the world.
If a scientific research machine requires a large number of organs, there is no need for pairing. Just randomly pick a few people based on how many kidneys, livers, or hearts you want, slaughter them in batches, and then send them out.
Because they are on the high seas, no country's laws can control them.
After the organs are removed, the body can be thrown into the sea without even having to do the follow-up work of digging a hole to bury the body. It can be done without anyone noticing.
The bosses behind these ghost ships are all white people, and they give remote commands via satellite phones.
You shouldn't have double standards when it comes to those so-called top medical journals or international medical organizations controlled by Europeans and Americans.
If the source of organs in Academician Zheng's paper is unknown, then are the sources of organs in papers published by doctors in Europe and the United States open and transparent? Can the source of every organ be traced back?
To put it bluntly, it is because Academician Zheng is already far ahead of his peers from all over the world in hepatobiliary surgery. If these people cannot defeat you technically, they will fight against you with your character.
Not allowing you to publish papers is equivalent to not giving you the opportunity to speak out, leaving you with no foothold in the international medical community. But don’t they still have the final say in hepatobiliary surgery?
For many things, the United States’ requirement is, I can investigate you, but you cannot investigate me.
Look, isn’t this blatant double standard?
But there is no way. In this international world, whoever has the stronger fist has the final say. So in the final analysis, our own country must be strong. We cannot rely on others.
Dean Tu was still complaining:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, look at the current epidemic in Changping. Because we lack an infectious disease laboratory and the relevant instruments and testing equipment, our Union Hospital has no way of determining what kind of bacteria or virus is causing the epidemic.
Without knowing what's causing it, we have no way to prevent and control the root cause of this epidemic. We can only treat it symptomatically, just like you Chinese medicine practitioners. If you didn't have this swab, we'd still be in the dark."
Dean Shen laughed out loud when he heard this:
"Old Tu, you can curse the Americans, British, and French all you want, but please don't bring up our Chinese medicine. We Chinese medicine practitioners are not as pretentious as your Western medicine. We must find out the cause before we can treat it. You need this equipment and that instrument. Without the machines, you can't treat patients."
Dean Tu was unhappy and retorted:
"Treatment is like the police catching bad guys. You must have evidence and use the right treatment for the right pathogen. This is the only way to treat the disease accurately and minimize harm to the human body. Unlike Chinese medicine practitioners, you prescribe a bunch of medicines without knowing the specific disease, and then damage the patient's liver and kidney functions."
"Oh, our Chinese medicine is bad? Don't you want evidence? What evidence do you have?"
"Of course there is evidence. We have been collecting relevant data. If you want it, come back to Concord Hospital with me and I will give it to you."
The two old men started arguing again.
In fact, the dispute between Chinese and Western medicine has never stopped from the beginning of the Republic of China to 2013. Each side has its own reasons.
For example, from the perspective of Western medicine, aristolochic acid causes severe damage to the kidneys, and there is clear laboratory and clinical data for this.
As a result, Chinese medicinal materials with high aristolochic acid content, such as Guanmutong, Guangfangji, and Qingmuxiang, were banned by national management departments. At the same time, Chinese herbal preparations containing aristolochic acid were also listed as prescription drugs, and Chinese medicine practitioners were required to use them with caution.
But from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, all medicines are toxic to some extent. You need to distinguish whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and then use it dialectically. How can you simply ban it?
Moreover, when certain Chinese medicinal materials are combined in this way, their toxicity will actually be reduced to the lowest level, and some symptoms may even require these toxicities to be treated.
So the two sides started arguing again, and neither could convince the other.
While a few old men were arguing over there, Lin Sanqi was deep in thought. He was thinking that since he had the ability and now had the military's endorsement, he would not easily have any problems with his personal safety. So, should he help Union Hospital?
As the saying goes, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
I helped them get a batch of penicillin, but the penicillin will run out one day. Should I give them a laboratory?
In 2013, except for a few high-end instruments, all other experimental equipment has been domestically produced, and it doesn’t cost much to buy a few machines.
The problem is that if these cutting-edge technologies from 2013 were brought to 1960, the staff in 1960 would not be able to use them.
And if it's too high-tech, with advanced equipment that even European and American countries can't buy, wouldn't that force the relevant departments to arrest you and slice you up for research?
So should we sit back and watch, playing it safe? Or should we help Union Hospital, or make a small contribution to our country's fragile modern medical system?
If it were an ordinary person, he would definitely choose the front one. It is safest to stay there motionless and not think about monetizing the traffic.
But as an ordinary person, Lin Sanqi naturally chose the latter.
It's just like traveling through time and space and not rebelling, or putting an electric drill in your anus. You've already traveled through time and space, so how can there be any logic?
The time travelers are either struggling or on their way to struggling. There is no coward hiding in the corner.
Thinking of this, Lin Sanqi suddenly clapped his hands, interrupting the two old men who were arguing next to him:
"Dean Tu, if you can get me 100 kilograms of natural musk, I'll get you some equipment. At least I can help you build an infectious disease laboratory at Union Hospital. How about that?"
As soon as Lin Sanqi finished speaking, the scene fell silent.
Lin Sanqi saw that the four deans were all standing there in a daze, and thought, oh no, was my request too high?
In 2013, the price of 1 gram of artificial musk was about 30 yuan, but since Lin Sanqi asked for it, he definitely wanted natural musk instead of artificial one.
The price of natural musk is 800-1000 yuan per gram, and the price is still rising.
There is no way, musk-producing animals such as forest musk deer, red musk deer, and musk deer are too difficult to raise.
Because musk deer are very solitary, like to live alone, and have high requirements for the environment, it is best to raise them in a place with a higher altitude, and the place needs to be quiet. They are very sensitive to the surrounding environment and are easily frightened.
Musk deer grow slowly, taking four to five years to mature, which means farmers have to wait a long time before they can harvest musk. This is undoubtedly a huge challenge for many farmers who hope to get a quick return.
Even if you have prepared the venue, bought the cubs, prepared the breeders, etc.
But there is one most crucial thing. Musk deer are a national first-class protected animal. If you want to breed them, you need to go through the relevant procedures approved by the State Forestry Administration, which is not easy to do.
Okay, let's consider that you have completed all the necessary procedures, and have waited four or five years for the musk deer to mature and be harvested. You want to export it and sell it at a high price.
Well, I have bad news for you: musk is almost never exported, so you can't earn foreign exchange.
You say you sell it to domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers, hehe, then you will know what black means. Domestic capital is just as barbaric, and at most they will let you gnaw on some bones.
Even if you find a generous buyer, unfortunately the use of natural musk must be strictly limited to key medicines such as special-effect medicines and key medicines and key hospitals.
Well, that means you only have a few buyers, and it’s impossible for you to wait for a higher price.
So in 2013, there was very little natural musk in China and the price was very high. Lin Sanqi planned to open a Chinese medicine factory in the future, and musk would be indispensable.
What Lin Sanqi didn't know was that in 1960 there was almost no artificially cultivated musk, only pure natural wild musk.
In 2013, the price of this wild musk was 50,000 to 100,000 yuan per gram...
Yes, you read that right, 50,000 to 100,000 per gram.
Of course, if Lin Sanqi is able to get it, he must not make it public, because the relevant departments will definitely come to your door, and then reward you with a pair of silver bracelets, and I will see how you are punished!
Dean Tu was overjoyed and excitedly shook Lin Sanqi's hand:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, are you saying that you can help us get a laboratory?"
Vice President Ye excitedly grabbed Lin Sanqi's other hand and asked, "You want 100 kilograms of musk?"
Lin Sanqi was held by the two old men, and his muscles and skin were all tense. He asked weakly, "100 kilograms, is that too much?"
Dean Tu asked anxiously at this time:
"Do you know how much equipment is needed to build a laboratory? Let me calculate it for you: an electric constant temperature incubator, a low-temperature refrigerator, a centrifuge, a nucleic acid extractor, a gel imager, a fluorescence quantifier, a polymerase chain reaction nucleic acid amplification instrument, an enzyme marker, a general microbial incubator, and so on.
Comrade Lin Sanqi, I don't ask for much else. I just want you to help me get five instruments: a nucleic acid extractor, a gel imager, a fluorescence quantification instrument, a polymerase chain reaction nucleic acid amplification instrument, and an enzyme marker. I'll be grateful and thank you!
After all, Lin Sanqi studied clinical medicine, not microbiology, so he quickly took out a pen and paper to write it down.
When Dean Shen saw that his baby was going to buy equipment for Union Hospital, he felt very sad and said sarcastically:
"Old Butcher, 100 jin of musk is not cheap, 1,000 yuan per jin, you need to prepare 100,000 yuan."
Dean Tu laughed out loud when he heard this:
"Old Shen, do you think our Union Hospital will be short of money? We have 500 beds and over a million outpatient visits a year. Do you think we will be short of money?"
Dean Shen was unhappy: "What does it matter if you are rich? Can you buy delicious food? Can you buy medical equipment? Just having money is enough for you to be a miser."
Lin Sanqi suddenly realized that Union Hospital is not a digital hospital. Digital hospitals are special and cannot aim to make profits. They are responsible for the medical treatment of the entire army.
Although the Chinese medicine hospital is national-level, it is too small. After downsizing, there are only more than 300 employees in the hospital, and the money earned is limited.
But as an old hospital, Union Medical College has more than a thousand employees, and Western medicine is more efficient and makes money faster. No wonder President Tu does not take the mere 50,000 yuan seriously.
This is a big fish.
After a busy day of medical treatment, even if the salary is only 5 or 8 yuan, the Chinese medicine hospital makes a lot of money with more than 2,000 patients a day.
Of course, most people don’t know that the Chinese Medicine Hospital also has an additional special care tent for patients who cannot afford the high medical expenses.
Let's talk about giving the simplest medicine. In fact, these patients who can't afford treatment are given the same medicine as those who pay for it...
When night fell, Lin Sanqi quietly found a door and returned to 2013.
The penicillin needed by Union Hospital is very easy to purchase.
Lin Musen’s Lingnantang Chinese Medicine Hospital also has a “Village Health Center” sign, which is a barefoot doctor certificate, and can purchase directly from pharmaceutical companies.
As a basic medicine, penicillin is too cheap, only a few cents per tube. Even if it is sold to patients at double the price, it is only one or two yuan per tube, so the profit is limited.
Penicillin is rarely used in either regular hospitals or small clinics, which has led to mountains of it in pharmaceutical companies' warehouses, with cobwebs almost growing on the boxes.
So when Lin Sanqi went to purchase the goods, the people at the pharmaceutical company were eager to clear out their inventory for him.
In the end, Lin Sanqi spent 50,000 yuan and took away 100,000 bottles of penicillin from the pharmaceutical company, at an average price of 50 cents per bottle.
After putting all the penicillin into the "channel space", Lin Sanqi took out a box of medicine and held it in his hand. There were 20 penicillins in this box.
Lin Sanqi sighed again, saying that this common commodity, which was seen everywhere but no one used in 2013, had to be smuggled into the country from Hong Kong or abroad using gold and silver in 1960.
The key point is that the prices at that time were outrageous.
Before liberation, especially during World War II, the price of a tube of penicillin in Shanghai was about US$10, which was equivalent to more than ten yuan in the Republic of China.
If we calculate based on the fact that 35 US dollars was equal to 31 grams of gold per ounce at that time, a small yellow croaker was equal to 30 dollars, or 3 doses of penicillin, during the Republic of China period.
The key point is not that it is expensive, but that sometimes you can’t buy penicillin even if you have money.
At that time, in order to obtain the precious penicillin, our party’s underground workers not only had to pay a sky-high price to buy it, but also had to pay the price of their lives to transport it to the liberated areas. It was extremely precious.
There's a scene in the TV series "Sesame Alley" where Yan Zhensheng, the owner of a pickle shop, gets ten penicillins and trades them for a wife named Mu Chunhua (acted beautifully by Wang Ou).
By 1960, global prices of penicillin had fallen as production increased.
However, with the founding of our country, penicillin could no longer be imported openly and had to be imported secretly, which caused the price of penicillin in the country to soar again.
A certain tycoon transported penicillin to the country in shiploads, and then brought back real money in shiploads, making himself one of the richest men in Hong Kong.
Of course, this money is not earned by Boss Huo alone. Behind it are foreign pharmaceutical companies, upper echelons of the colonial government, garrisons, sirs, communities, etc. Everyone has a share, and everyone makes money, forming an industrial chain.
Otherwise, do you really think the American warships in Dapeng Bay and Houhai Bay are just for show? They are also being screened. If a big shot dared to smuggle weapons or precision machine tools to the mainland, believe it or not, he would have been bombarded to the sky long ago.
So in 1960, even if the price of penicillin was not as exaggerated as one tael of gold per tube, Lin Sanqi's box of 20 penicillins was more than enough to exchange for a small yellow croaker.
Then 100,000 bottles of penicillin can be exchanged for gold worth hundreds of millions.
So compared to those antiques that are hard to sell, traveling between two eras to sell valuable items is the biggest profit among all.
Lin Sanqi was humming a little tune happily while taking out an iced cola from the refrigerator when he suddenly remembered the relevant experimental equipment he had to buy for Union Hospital.
2013 is not 1960. Lin Sanqi can just sit at home and find the information he needs by simply typing something on the computer.
Fluorescence quantification instrument, polymerase chain reaction nucleic acid amplification instrument, microplate reader, nucleic acid extraction instrument, gel imaging instrument...
Lin Sanqi quickly found the sales information of the relevant equipment on Alibaba.com. The price was not too expensive. They were obviously some basic instruments, and the total cost did not exceed 5 million.
But Lin Sanqi studied it for a long time before he touched his chin in embarrassment.
It’s not that the instruments are bad, but that they are too good. They are all automated and easy to operate. Just put the specimen into the instrument and the required data will be automatically generated. Even the screen is touch-sensitive.
It was not practical to obtain such advanced equipment in 1960. Firstly, the researchers did not know how to operate it, as everything was done manually there.
Secondly, it would easily arouse official suspicion. The country would also be jealous of such high-tech things. It would be ridiculous to treat Lin Sanqi as a genius inventor and lock him up in Lop Nur for scientific research.
So the best way is to buy those old generation instruments that have been eliminated but can still be used, but where can we find such machines?
It’s not easy. I’ve been in and out of prison twice.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
