Xu Hui, former vice-president of Nanjing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and deputy director of the hospital's command unit for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), died at her working post on February 7 unexpectedly while fighting against the epidemic.

Xu had immersed herself in the epidemic prevention and control work since January 20.

"Xu comprehensively involved herself in the fight against the epidemic by participating in conferences, formulating plans of prevention and control work, setting up a medical expert team and raising epidemic prevention and control materials," said Xie Faren, deputy director of the hospital's Department of Infection Management. According to Xie, Xu had been working without one day break since January 20. "She was on 24-hour duty and hadn't eaten a meal on time or had a good sleep."

During the past 18 days, Xu led 16 experts to formulate a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment plan for COVID-19, dispatched three experts to diagnose suspected cases in the public health center, set up emergency response mechanisms, and made the prevention and control work of the hospital more orderly.

"She made us feel warm. No matter what difficulties we met, she always supported us," said Sun Jing, vice-president of the hospital's Chengnan Branch.

Xu helped package protective materials for medical team members who were going to assist Wuhan. She altered shift times of medical members in fever clinics from eight hours to six hours to let them had more time to rest.

"She always kept patients and staff in her mind, but she never thought about herself," said Chen Yannian, secretary of the Party committee of the hospital.

On February 11, Lou Qinjian, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China,  called on the whole medical staff to learn from Xu, joining hands in the efforts to the fighting against the epidemic.

On the same day, Xu was honored as the Jiangsu Provincial March 8th Red-banner Holder by the Jiangsu Women's Federation and she was awarded the title of Outstanding Party Member of Nanjing posthumously.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated by Women of China)