Nie
Mingtao arrived at Wuhan Union Hospital's tumor center on Feb. 9,
hoping to continue with chemotherapy treatment for the late-stage lung
cancer that had left him unable to eat or sleep.
When
Nie arrived, paperwork in order, a doctor apologized and turned him
away: The hospital was emptying its cancer ward to make room for
patients suffering from the coronavirus that was ravaging Hubei
province, said his son, Nie Wenjie.
A month into its battle to contain the outbreak,
China is overseeing an unprecedented triage on a national level by
scaling back or suspending public health services for patients with
ailments unrelated to the epidemic.
Within Hubei province at the outbreak's epicenter, hospitals are so overwhelmed by the disease
that they lack manpower or beds to treat hardly anything else. Beyond
Hubei, hospitals from Chongqing in the southwest to Beijing in the
north, in an all-out effort to minimize the chance of virus
transmission, are choosing to shutter departments and reject patients
seeking surgeries, kidney dialysis, diabetes medication and help for a
variety of other conditions.==> READ MORE
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