Chapter 43 (1/2)

Chapter 43: Emergency Rescue!

Old Chief Physician Pan and Zheng Ren jogged in silence to the emergency department.

Once they arrived, Old Chief Physician Pan instructed the department to reject patients that had minor illnesses and to refer them to other hospitals.

He announced that a ma.s.s poisoning had happened and the general hospital was limiting their medical resources to only the critically ill. Most patients obeyed the orders and left on their own accord to seek medical attention elsewhere.

Some patients who were not in a rush stayed back to watch the drama unfold.

However, a small portion of patients started making a fuss. They had come all the way to the hospital only to be rejected? Weren’t hospitals supposed to save the sick and dying? If they were not tending to the sick, who else was supposed to?

Old Chief Physician Pan gave the protesting uncles, ranting aunties, and raving hoodlums a cold stare. He did not dignify them with a response and headed off to manage the emergency department’s clinical decision unit.

The patients who could be discharged were discharged, with the paperwork left for another day. The wards were cleared as much as possible to make room for the coming storm.

Five minutes later, the general hospital’s administrative board arrived at the emergency department and got to work. A reshuffling of the rosters was done and more doctors and nurses were brought in to increase the emergency department’s capacity.

After all, a big incident like this happened only once every few years. The emergency department did not require such capacity on an average day, and the timely reallocation of resources was expected for emergencies.

Seeing the arrival of the hospital administrative board, a middle-aged female patient ran up and clutched at the sleeves of the prominent Director Xiao.

A tantrum thrown by a middle-aged person was often frowned upon by the public and Director Xiao was no exception.

Seven minutes later, the nearby police force came to provide their a.s.sistance.

The national emblem shone under the light. People who were making a fuss quieted down.

Nine minutes later, the sirens of the ambulances could be heard from a distance. All the personnel were at their positions, ready for the battle.

Zheng Ren and the other nurses gathered at the emergency entrance to greet the ambulances. He was not obligated to be there but figured an early diagnosis could save a life.

The ambulances arrived, tires screeching. Wisps of white smoke rose into the sky. There were tire marks where the ambulances pulled up in a hurry.

The stretcher that was pushed out made Zheng Ren stumble.

The patient’s exposed skin was greyish blue, very much like an alien from the movie, ‘Avatar’.

‘This is a bad omen,’ Zheng Ren thought. The patient was suffering nitrite poisoning.

Ever since he started training in the System, Zheng Ren’s memory had improved by leaps and bounds.

Nitrite poisoning was a rare illness—mentioned in a few sentences in medical textbooks. Once he left medical school and entered the workforce, Zheng Ren had not seen a single case of it.

The few sentences from the textbook stood out in his memory, clear as day.

He concluded that this was a case of nitrite poisoning from the patient diagnosis in the right corner of his view. The patient was currently in a potentially fatal state of circulatory shock.

Zheng Ren grabbed onto the stretcher and started to dash.

Every second was critical in determining the patient’s outcome.

“Nitrite poisoning! Prep the methylene blue and the pota.s.sium permanganate solution!” Zheng Ren ordered as he pushed the stretcher.

His voice echoed down the hospital corridor.

Little Zhao was hidden in an inconspicuous corner of the emergency department watching a livestream. When he heard Zheng Ren’s voice and saw him pus.h.i.+ng a stretcher down the corridor, his heart swelled with admiration.

Right now, this normal everyman who had no money, no house and no girlfriend was larger than life.