A doctor who travels through two eras

Two weeks later.

The remarkable nature of the newly opened Lingnan Hospital has become a hot topic in Hong Kong news recently.

Reporters from newspapers of all sizes, seeing that Lingnan Hospital offered endless material for their interviews, pounced on it like hungry wolves, surrounding it with interviews every day.

Lin Sanqi was also generous, giving each reporter who came to the hospital for an interview a 1000 yuan red envelope every day.

If the press release is a positive piece praising and commending Lingnan Hospital, the fee is still 1000 yuan per thousand words.

Money makes the world go round. Hong Kong reporters are known for their lack of scruples and will follow whoever pays them the most, so they lavishly praised Lingnan Hospital in their own newspapers.

And they all write entire pages of praise, because they're paid by word count, so of course the more words the better, just like some lousy authors who pad their word counts...

The Lingnan Hospital's reputation exploded, thanks not only to the media but also, importantly, to the fact that the first batch of patients experienced positive results.

The office of the chairman of Lingnan Hospital.

Dean Feng Shiqi, Vice Dean He Jiachang, and Medical Affairs Director Shi Wenhe were sitting together, reporting to their boss, Lin Sanqi.

"Boss, according to our statistics this week, antibiotics currently account for 90% of all prescriptions, which has met our expected target."

In addition, our pricing is HK$20 per box for cefuroxime, HK$30 for azithromycin, and HK$50 for moxifloxacin. Currently, the daily usage of antibiotics alone is 10,000 boxes.

Lin Sanqi felt a little uneasy when he heard this data.

Decades later, according to the "Administrative Measures for the Clinical Application of Antimicrobial Drugs", the rate of antibiotic use among inpatients in medical institutions shall not exceed 60%, and the proportion of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients shall not exceed 20%.

At Lingnantang, antibiotics account for 90% of prescriptions.

If the director of the quality control department at Dongfang Hospital, where he was pursuing his master's degree, saw this data, he would go crazy and deduct money from his paycheck until it was unbearable.

Fortunately, this was in the 1960s, and no one was aware of the dangers of antibiotics, so there were no legal or hospital regulations that allowed Lingnan Hospital to do whatever it wanted.

Unaware of his boss's guilty conscience, Feng Shiqi continued his report:
"Boss, besides the good news, there's also bad news. Our Western medicine department is currently experiencing an explosion in outpatient and inpatient visits. Outpatient visits have jumped from 1000 per day to 3000."

However, 3,000 patients is already the maximum capacity of Lingnan Hospital; we can't handle any more. So, boss, you need to resolve the manpower issue as soon as possible. We can't keep borrowing from Will Hospital.”

Lin Sanqi touched his chin.

It's too late to recruit from medical schools now; what's needed are skilled workers. So the only remaining option is to poach people from other hospitals.

Rivals are enemies. The rise of Lingnan Hospital will inevitably affect the interests of other hospitals. We will all be enemies sooner or later, so let's just ignite it now.

"So, since we're short-handed, we'll have to rely on you guys wielding your hoes. As long as you don't work hard, there's no doctor the dean can't dig up."

We are poaching talent with high salaries, promising a 50% increase in basic wages, plus drug deductions, which will at least double your income.

For highly qualified doctors, such as chief physicians and consultant physicians, we'll offer them 50% more than the industry's highest standard to poach them. I refuse to believe I can't find the doctors I need.

Vice President Ho Chia-chang, a native of Hong Kong, also offered this reminder:
"Boss, if we poach people temporarily, those doctors and nurses all have contracts, and they will have to pay a penalty if they leave."

Lin Sanqi said nonchalantly, "We'll pay for this. We can easily earn it back."

As the group was still discussing matters, a burst of enthusiastic applause and cheers suddenly erupted from downstairs.

Lin Sanqi stood at the window and looked downstairs, and saw that another patient was carrying a flower basket to the small square in front of the outpatient building.

Meanwhile, the small square was already piled high with all sorts of flower baskets; one might mistake it for a wedding ceremony.

Feng Shiqi laughed after seeing it:

“I counted this morning, and we’ve received a total of 1250 flower baskets. If they keep coming in every few minutes, we’ll probably run out of space in front of the hospital.”

Ho Chia-chang also remarked with emotion:
"I have been a doctor for 30 years and I have never seen any hospital receive so many flower baskets at once. This is definitely a record in Hong Kong, which shows the recognition and gratitude of the general public for our Lingnan Hospital."

Patients from mainland China often present doctors with banners as a token of their gratitude.

The more banners a doctor or department receives, the more honor it represents for the individual doctor and the hospital as a whole, as well as for their excellent medical skills and the recognition they receive from patients.

People in Hong Kong don't send banners; instead, they prefer flower baskets, like those for business openings. Outside the offices of famous doctors, there's a long row of flower baskets; other patients can tell at a glance that the doctor is a renowned physician—it's like a badge of honor for a doctor.

But usually, there are only a few dozen of these flower baskets at most.

The sight of thousands of flower baskets filling an entire square, like at Lingnan Hospital, was truly spectacular and unprecedented in Hong Kong's history.

A middle-aged couple who had just delivered a flower basket were surrounded by reporters.

"Sir, are you sending the flower basket to express your gratitude to Lingnan Hospital?"

The middle-aged man was clearly not an ordinary citizen; he remained calm and composed while being interviewed by dozens of reporters.
"Yes, my son has white lung. You know what white lung is, right? It means that half of his lung looks white on an X-ray, which means diffuse inflammation and his life is hanging by a thread."

At that time, my son had a persistent high fever and difficulty breathing. St. Paul's Hospital tried to save him for a week, but in the end, they issued a critical condition notice, telling us that my son was beyond saving.

Finally, as a last resort, I took my son to Lingnan Hospital. Thanks to their best efforts, he has now been discharged and recovered.

Therefore, to express my gratitude, I personally delivered a flower basket. At the same time, on behalf of the Ma family, I am making a donation of HK$10 to Lingnan Hospital for research on severe pneumonia.

Wow~~~
Reporters and onlookers at the scene all gasped in surprise.

Even the head of the patient relations department, who was in charge of receiving patients' families, was stunned. This was the first social donation that Lingnan Hospital had ever received.

This matter immediately alarmed Lin Sanqi, the big boss.

For Mr. Lin Sanqi, HK$10 is not a huge sum, but it is a good start.

Like hospitals abroad, Hong Kong hospitals accept patient donations, but these donations cannot be used to pay employees; they are usually earmarked for specific medical research projects.

After completing its initial capital accumulation, Lingnan Hospital will definitely pursue scientific research and teaching, and may even establish its own medical school.

So naturally, the more you donate, the better. Using other people's money to conduct scientific research for your own hospital is a profitable business no matter how you do it.

Of course, don't expect donations from ordinary citizens; such donations often come from wealthy individuals, essentially buying a VIP status.

As the president of Lingnan Hospital, Feng Shiqi received the check from the patient's family.

The scene was filled with the flashes of light from the cameras.

Then Feng Shiqi addressed the surrounding reporters in English:
"Thank you for your donation, Mr. and Mrs. Ma. Please rest assured, Mr. Ma and all citizens, that all donations received by Lingnan Hospital will be publicly disclosed to the public and the donors. The public can check the accounts at any time."

In addition, to express our gratitude to kind citizens like Mr. Ma, we have decided to set up a donation plaque in the hospital garden, where the name of every donor will be engraved, signifying that Lingnan Hospital will not forget any kind-hearted citizen.

Okay~~~
The audience erupted in applause once again.

Although the hospitals run by foreigners are high-end, ordinary donors can at most get priority access to medical care.

Even the biggest donors only get a nominal seat on the hospital's board of directors.

When it was Lin Sanqi's turn, he had a flash of inspiration and used the traditional merit plaque model to engrave the list of donors on it.

This greatly satisfied the donors' vanity; they had their names recorded for doing good deeds, which would motivate them to donate even more in the future. This is a perfectly legitimate and open strategy.

Just as the square was bustling with activity, a few white men came out of the outpatient building, their backpacks bulging with bags.

After the white men got on the bus, they quickly took out all the medicine from their bags:
"I received a total of 20 boxes of cephalosporin, 10 boxes of azithromycin, and 10 boxes of moxifloxacin. What about you?"

"I've prepared pediatric antibiotics here. As you can see, there are 20 boxes in total."

"This ibuprofen is amazing. I've tried it, and it's excellent for relieving pain and reducing fever."

The white man in the lead, Philip, only breathed a sigh of relief after he personally and neatly arranged all the medications in a cardboard box.

"It's probably because Lingnan Hospital doesn't produce a lot of medicine, so they're limiting the supply. They even have a strict rule about how many boxes each person can get. Otherwise, we could have collected more."

However, we've collected even more these past few days, so we can take it back to China and try it out.

"Okay, Philip, we'll do as you say. We'll head back home tomorrow to sell them." (End of Chapter)