MONROVIA – Some Chinese living overseas have their hearts and minds back home, showing concerns in different ways for their country and compatriots who are currently grappling with Coronavirus attacks.
Zhai Yu, 46, a Chinese doctor running a multi-purpose clinic in the Liberian capital for twelve years, is packaging and sending back home a consignment of protective materials from her clinic to help fight the Coronavirus that has kept Chinese health authorities busy and put pressure on available resources.
The consignment contains more than 7000 nose masks and 600 pieces of protective clothing for hospitals in the affected areas, including the epicenter city of Wuham .
Those are some of the materials she had imported to equip her Monrovia clinic in a country that is still on the watch for disease outbreaks since the deadly West Africa Ebola situation happened six years ago.
Dr. Zhai told this writer she was undertaking the task “because our people in China have suffered too much; they are between life and death.”
“Being Chinese overseas we want to try our best to do something for our homeland,” she said, as she and her Liberian staffers packed the consignment in cartons to get them ready for shipment. “It’s our duty; it’s exactly our duty; we must do that.”
She said Chinese abroad and at home feel strongly that that there is “nothing we will not conquer; this means for sure we will conquer all the problems in front of us.”
Dr. Zhai, from the province of He Bei and a graduate of the He Bei University, expressed relief that her immediate family members and hometown have not experienced the virus but she displayed a feeling of emotion that once some Chinese have been affected by the outbreaks, the rest of the country and its people feel affected as well.
Her Mercy Clinic near the diplomatic quarter of Mamba Point, south-west of Monrovia, treats a large community of Chinese and Liberians, including many high profile persons who see her place as an alternative to traveling abroad for medicals.
Dr. Zhai explained that the difficulties health practitioners are faced with in China itself when dealing with sick people who have not yet shown any symptoms are what all health institutions on the watch for the virus face.
“The challenge is you don’t know who is a patient for the moment because during the first fourteen days people may have the disease but will not show symptoms like coughing,” she said.
She emphasized that because of the strong cooperation and collaboration between the Chinese Embassy and officials at the Ministry of Health, there seems no visible threat to Liberia so far.
“For the moment I don’t think we need to worry more about that,” she said, hailing the cooperation and collaboration between the Chinese Embassy and Liberian health officials to prevent the virus from entering the country.
On her personal safety and that of her Liberian staff, Dr. Zhai said they are on top of their game, instituting the necessary measures to be safe to save lives.
“Of course we must be careful about that, but we are not afraid about that because it’s our duty to treat people.”
