BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- As China has basically contained the spread of the novel coronavirus after bold and arduous efforts, more Chinese physicians and enterprises are ready to use their experiences and technology to help other parts of the world in diagnosing, treating and containing the epidemic.
At a video conference late Sunday, 13 senior doctors from the Xiangya School of Medicine of Central South University in Changsha, capital of central China’s Hunan Province, communicated with the experts from the Yale School of Medicine, the United States.
The COVID-19 diagnosis, the arrangement of fever clinic department and its infection control, staff training, clinical tests, basic research and other aspects were elaborated, with questions raised by Yale experts on epidemic control, therapeutic drugs and patient rehabilitation answered in the conference that lasted nearly three hours.
"The current epidemic is not only a challenge to China and the United States but also the world," said Chen Xiang, vice president of Central South University, adding that Xiangya will further deepen international cooperation and contribute to the global fight.
The National Health Commission said Monday no new domestically transmitted cases of the COVID-19 were reported on the Chinese mainland on Sunday. Among the overall confirmed cases of 81,093 by Sunday, 72,703 had been discharged from hospital after recovery.
On Saturday, doctors from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, held a video meeting with experts of the Ministry of Health of Argentina, the fourth such conference the hospital held within 10 days, following those with Britain, the United States and Italy.
"One thing that we keep emphasizing is early diagnosis and early quarantine. Those in the incubation period can also pass on the virus to others who do not wear masks," said Liang Tingbo, Party chief and a senior director of the hospital.
The hospital has taken in over 100 COVID-19 patients between the ages of 13 and 96, most of whom were in serious or critical conditions. So far, the hospital has seen zero deaths and zero infections among the medics.
At the conference, doctors of the hospital answered questions about the treatment programs, prescription differences between patients with mild symptoms and those in serious conditions, as well as the criteria for curing and discharging a case.
The hospital and many other Chinese hospitals have joined an "Internet hospital", through which foreign hospitals are able to reach them, consulting any cases they have encountered.
"No country or individual can handle such a global pandemic all by themselves. We are willing to communicate with our foreign counterparts at any time in any way," said Liang.
In Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, hi-tech company Neusoft Medical Systems Sunday connected medical experts from Beijing and Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, with those from two Kenyan hospitals via its "cloud imaging" platform.
Song Lan, a radiologist with Peking Union Medical College Hospital, analyzed in English the CT scan image of the lungs of a COVID-19 patient in Kenya, which was transmitted in real-time on the screen by doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
With the help of AI screening and diagnostic system "Huoyan", which was developed specifically for COVID-19 diagnosis, Song was able to pinpoint several suspicious lesions in the patient"s lungs captured in the image.
"The system can automatically recognize suspicious lesion areas in the image and conduct quantitative processing, significantly improving the efficiency of screening and diagnosis", she said.
Wu Shaojie, president of the company, said through the diagnostic platform, doctors in Kenya could transmit CT scan images at any time to consult the opinions of their Chinese counterparts.
Mutahi Kagwe, Cabinet Secretary for Health of Kenya who also joined the conference, said the valuable experience of Chinese doctors and the advanced medical technology would save a lot of trouble for them in dealing with the epidemic.
"The exchange of ideas between Chinese and Kenyan medical experts will help us minimize the negative effects of the virus", he said.
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