‘Government’s fault’: Chinese hospitals struggle as Covid surges – France 24

02:00

China’s hospitals have been struggling to keep up amid soaring coronavirus cases after the Chinese Communist Party abruptly reversed its stringent “zero Covid” policy while the country’s vaccination rate remains low. FRANCE 24 correspondents Lou Kisiela, Antoine Morel, Yan Chen and Yena Lee report from a hospital in Shanghai.This hospital is considered one of the best in China, but it is overwhelmed as Covid cases soar. Stretchers and oxygen tanks pile up in the lobby as ambulance after ambulance arrives, day and night. “I am very worried. I feel powerless. It’s very crowded,” said the daughter-in-law of an elderly patient whose condition was alarming. “The hospital is doing its best […] but they are understaffed. The doctors don’t have time to answer our questions.”Meanwhile, patients with less serious symptoms were waiting for rationed fever medication. Pharmacies have run out of stock, and this hospital can prescribe it at the rate of one dose per person, per day.“We could’ve stocked up on drugs before lifting all the restrictions. It’s the government’s fault,” said one patient. “Either we are strictly locked down.. or all the measures disappear at once!”