ROME: Medical supplies such as masks and respirators sent from China to aid Italy’s fight against novel coronavirus have been hailed as vital and timely by the Italian community, as Chinese medical experts on the ground in Italy are racing to help reduce the country’s high mortality rate.
A team of nine Chinese medics, comprising epidemiologists, intensive care specialists and a plasma therapy expert, arrived in Italy late on Thursday on a plane loaded with 31 metric tons of equipment, as the European country grapples a surge in new infections, a shortage of protective and medical devices and severe fatalities.
“To bring down mortality rate is a priority in disease control, especially given that we’re coping with an emerging virus. So we have dispatched the most competent experts in treating severe and critical cases to Italy,” said Lu Ming, a team member who also works with the National Health Commission’s international cooperation department. Italy counted 21,157 total infections with 1,441 deaths, its health authority said on Saturday evening local time. That has put the country’s fatality rate far higher than most other countries affected by the pathogen. To facilitate treatment efforts, the Chinese team has brought intensive care equipment, such as electrocardiogram machines that monitor patients’ conditions and respirators, as well as traditional Chinese medicines and other drugs that show efficacy in curing infections in China, according to Lu, who spoke with China National Radio. “We have also carried plasma and blood products from recovered Chinese patients, “ he added. Using such infusions of blood plasma in infected patients is believed to be a valid therapeutic approach. Yang Huichuan, vice-president of China National Biotech Group, is a member of the team for his expertise in convalesce plasma.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
