Covid 19 coronavirus: Wuhan hospitals overwhelmed with seriously ill patients who waited until after the peak

In this March 17 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker looks at CT scans at the Huoshenshan field hospital in Wuhan. Photo / AP

Mr Wang has waited all year to take his father, who suffers from a chronic kidney disease, to see a doctor, which was impossible during lockdowns in Wuhan, ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic.

Within a week of Wuhan loosening restrictions, Mr Wang called for an ambulance to rush his father to hospital, but now fears it's too late – his health has deteriorated significantly due to infection complications from at-home dialysis.

"He is going to die because he had to wait so long," he told the Daily Telegraph. "It's due to the coronavirus epidemic – if we could have seen a doctor earlier, this wouldn't be a problem."

A resident wearing mask and suit against the coronavirus cycles in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on April 12. Photo / AP

Patients like Mr Wang's father are flooding hospitals in Wuhan, even as China says coronavirus infections that cause a disease known as Covid-19 are subsiding. Medical staff are rushing to care for non-virus patients, many of whom have become severely ill, a consequence of delayed treatment.

"We are under more pressure than during the peak of Covid-19, as there has been a huge influx of patients in critical condition," said a coronavirus frontline nurse, now mostly handling elderly patients with cardiovascular illnesses.

"They have not received any treatment in over two months, and thus, are in dire condition," she said, declining to give a name over worries of losing her job.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party hasn't publicly acknowledged the issue of secondary deaths due to a lack of care at overstretched hospitals and restricted mobility in the midst of a public health crisis.

Government workers in full protective gear usher in passengers recently arrived from Wuhan for a medical screening in Beijing, China. Photo / AP

Experts say countries with greater intensive care capacity are better equipped for handling an emergency outbreak alongside ongoing medical issues.

The United States has about 35 critical care beds per 100,000 people – about 10 times more than China, according to data cited by the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The UK has more than double that of China.

"China still needs to catch up with Western society in terms of preparedness for the healthcare system," said Xi Chen, a public health professor at Yale University.

Boosting access to primary care would also help patients with mild illnesses from developing more severe symptoms, reducing the need for hospitalisation later on, he said.

Over the last few months, daily calls to hospitals and doctors simply weren't getting through.

"They couldn't help us; the doctors were so overwhelmed, and so many of them were getting sick, too, with the coronavirus," said Mr Wang, who declined to give a full name. "How could they deal with us?"

NeedToKnow3

Outpatient clinics shuttered during the peak of the outbreak, as all medical staff were designated to handle a high volume of coronavirus patients.

"Everyone was assigned to work on the frontline – we didn't have a choice," a nurse told the Telegraph, recalling long shifts behind stifling hazmat suits. The only other possibility was to resign, and some did.

Overcrowding in the hospital was so severe that it was impossible to isolate confirmed patients from suspected cases, she said.

Residents catch a glimpse of a farewell ceremony for the last group of medical workers who came from outside Wuhan to help the city during the coronavirus outbreak. Photo / AP

Mr Wang, who lives in the outskirts of Wuhan, even tried lobbying neighbourhood authorities for permission to travel despite lockdowns.

But mandatory home quarantine and sealed roads meant he was never granted permission to bring his father for medical treatment – necessary a few times a year to clear any complications or infections from his body.

Experts say this heavy volume of critical patients could last a while, and those that refrain now from visiting hospitals over worries of being infected with the coronavirus could see their conditions worsen, leading to yet another wave of those seeking urgent care.

Such fears aren't unfounded. In China, the coronavirus pandemic is still far from over.

Over the last week, China has posted around 100 cases daily, the biggest one-day increases since early March, primarily due to overseas Chinese travelling home and bringing infections with them.

A number of quarantine and mobility restrictions remain in place – all those arriving in Beijing, for instance, must have negative virus test results valid within the last seven days.

"The spill over effect could be huge," Mr Chen. "Even after the lifting of lockdowns, the associated uncertainty may still last for a while before people feel comfortable [enough] to visit hospitals."

On a recent afternoon, Mr Wang slumped outside a hospital where an ambulance had taken his father, feeling dejected.

"If it weren't for the coronavirus epidemic, my father definitely wouldn't be dying," he said. "There are so many other sick people like this, minor illnesses dragged into serious ones, and then serious ones developing into deaths."