The new coronavirus managed to spread throughout the city of Wuhan in a month, the number of infected people increased every day and there were not enough places in hospitals. The problem was that in them the virus progressed with renewed vigor. To reduce the range of the disease, a hospital was constructed with special equipment and places for infected patients.
Who made the decision to build and why
In January 2020, the disease became widespread, the number of visits per day exceeded 100 patients per doctor. There was not enough staff, panic began in the hospitals, there were no medicines and in the form of pills for fever. Ordinary bags were used as chemical protection due to the shortage of suits. People were waiting for their turn, lying on the floor.
To overcome the panic and ensure safety against infection, the Chinese government and the city authorities decided to build a hospital in Wuhan, which started on January 23. The design plan was completed on the 24th of that month, the construction was planned to be completed in 6 days, but the authorities extended the deadline for the quality of the structures. It was not limited to one hospital, the second one began to be built 3 days later, but the number of beds in it was increased.
This is not the first experience, due to the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in 2003, in the city of Beijing, the hospital was built in just a week, following its example, a new hospital was made.
Why was there such urgency: did they manage to hand over the object on time
The construction of a specialized building was supposed to reduce the load on the provincial district hospital. On January 23, an area of 25,000 square meters was cleared with 35 excavators, 10 bulldozers and 8 road rollers. The progress of construction moved at an accelerated pace, at the beginning there were not enough personnel, and the working day reached 12 hours, but then the authorities involved 7,000 people in the work, and the construction of the first building took only 16 hours. Specialists arrived for three shifts. The corset of the building was strengthened until January 31. Workers were required to wear masks and their temperature was taken every hour.
The Huoshenshan Hospital, with a capacity of 1,000 beds, was built in 10 days as planned, and began accepting patients on February 3. One and a half thousand military doctors with experience in the fight against pneumonia and Ebola arrived at the hospital, 50 infected were admitted on the first day. Leishenshan Second Hospital, 30,000 sq. meters and designed for 1,300 beds was launched on February 6, up to 5,000 workers were involved in its construction.
What does the hospital look like inside and out?
The construction of the hospital in Wuhan took place according to a special scheme, taking into account the movement of personnel, and the quality of protection, both for patients and doctors. From a bird's eye view, it can be seen that the building has one common corridor, and from it, in the form of branches, other rooms are arranged horizontally, which are intended for infected patients. The main corridor serves for the movement of doctors around the building. The windows are covered with bars, like in prisons, but this is done in order to ensure that the virus does not leave the hospital.
In order to avoid cross-contamination, the hospital is divided into three areas: clean, half-dirty and contaminated. Separate channels have been created for medical personnel and patients with coronavirus, special gateways have been installed between them, where doctors are exposed to a wind shower.
All surfaces are washed after contact with an infected person, and the suits are incinerated at the end of each working day.
The floor in the building is covered with a membrane against the ingress of contaminants into groundwater. The rooms are set to negative pressure to dampen the virus. Food is served in iron boxes with ultraviolet disinfection, chlorine gas treatment allows waste to be thrown into the sewer.
The ward has 2 beds, which are placed 30 centimeters above the ground, a distance of 2 meters is maintained between the beds, and each person is entitled to a separate toilet and wash basin. Electricity is supplied regularly, a video system operates. Built-in air purifier, there are hand dryers. The equipment inside the ward of a new model works efficiently. In a separate warehouse for medicines there are injection devices, and for doctors there are masks, helmets and protective suits.