On April 17^th and April 24^th, Dongguan Peope’s Hospital, together with the  University Medical Center of G?ttingen, held the Sino-German Video Conference on COVID-19, discussing the diagnosis and treatment protocol and sharing their experience on COVID-19.

China and Germany have a deep-rooted friendship, and the friendship between Dongguan Peoples’ Hospital and Germany can be traced back to 1888. In 1888, a priest from Rhenish Missionary Society founded one of the oldest hospital of Western Medicine in China. And the hospital was later on changed its name as Dongguan People’s Hospital. After the joint effort by the government and staff in the past century, it is now a large comprehensive hospital offering medical treatment, teaching, scientific research, prevention and rehabilitation.

The participants from Dongguan include the Deputy Party Secretary and the President of Dongguan People’s Hospital, Prof. CAI LiMin, the Vice President, Prof. YUAN YaoQin, Head of the Medical Department, Dr. ZHOU Wei, Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Intensive Care, Prof. ZHANG Ping, Head of the Department of Intensive Care, Prof. CAI LiHua, Head of the Department of Neurology, Dr. CHEN YangKun, Dr. LI YuYan from the  Department of Respiratory Medicine and Intensive Care and Dr. HUANG RenZhao from the Medical Department.

The participants from Germany include Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lehmann, Chairman of the Department of Trauma Surgery, Orthopaedics and Plastic Surgery, Prof. Dr. Simone Scheithauer, Head of the Institute of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases, Prof. Sabine Blaschke, Head of the Interdisciplinary Emergency Center, Dr. Hartmut Stinus, Senior Consultant of the Department of Trauma Surgery, Orthopaedics and Plastic Surgery, University Medical Center of G?ttingen and Dr. Benedikt Leidinger from Volmarstein Orthopedic Hospital. 

Prof. Cai firstly gave a brief introduction to the specific measures we took and the achievement we made in the past months: After the outbreak in China, we have been assigned as the designated hospital for treating COVID-19 in Dongguan City and Guangdong Province. During the epidemic,we bear the responsibility of medical observation of the suspected cases and treatment of the severe and critically severe cases. We formulated counter measures according to different epidemic prevention and control pressures,  strengthened the multi-department cooperation in the hospital, established a multi-departmental cooperation system, and have been keeping close contact with the provincial expert group on COVID-19 to obtain the most timely help for treatment and suggestions.

We had received 13 patients with severe of critically severe symptoms ever since Jan 28th. On March 20th, 12 of them discharged. Currently the hospital has resumed to offer regular service. The bed utilization rate is 92% and the outpatient volume has recovered to 80%. 

Subsequently, the experts from both sides had a discussion on COVID-19 from four aspects: nursing, diagnosis standard, treatment protocol, nosocomial infection.

The experts from Dongguan People's Hospital introduced the key points of personal protection, diagnosis and treatment of patients, when to restore normal medical services as well as the phased results of Dongguan, and answered specific questions raised by the German experts during the conference.

The German experts expressed their great gratitude to the experts of Dongguan People’s Hospital for the experience they shared at such a critical stage, which is valuable for their fight against the COVID-19.

Public health crisis is a common challenge facing mankind, but unity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons. Prof. Cai said that they would like to share information and experience with German friends, and take this opportunity to promote the partnership with the University Medical Center of G?ttingen and Volmarstein Orthopedic Clinic for medical research in the future, to continue our relationship with Germany, and contribute to building a bridge of friendship between China and Germany.