Zhang Yu

    JeniZhang13@163.com

    THE total number of registered nurses in Shenzhen had reached 44,449 as of Dec. 31, 2019, with a year-on-year growth of 10.74 percent, according to the city’s health commission.

    There are 3.31 registered nurses per 1,000 people citywide, which will gradually alleviate the huge health-care demand of local residents, the commission said.

    Of the figure, 42,289 are female and 2,160 are male, accounting for 95.14 percent and 4.86 percent, respectively.

    Although the nursing field remains heavily female-dominated, the presence of male nurses is increasingly felt in the health-care workforce. The number of male nurses in Shenzhen grew by 22.87 percent last year, official statistics show.

    An increasing demand for nurses at local medical institutions was behind the surge, according to Wang Ling, head of the publicity department of the commission.

    On International Nurses Day, which was yesterday, a total of 556 nurses in the city were awarded for excellent performance in their daily work as well as in public health emergencies, according to the commission.

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shenzhen dispatched 77 medical workers, including 45 nurses, in five batches to support virus-hit Hubei Province. Meanwhile, 130 medics from hospitals across the city were selected to aid treatment efforts in Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital, the designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment in the city.

    Zhao Jianshen, nurse-in-charge with the orthopedics and traumatology department at Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, was among the 45 Shenzhen nurses who joined the front-line fight in Hubei.

    Zhao told a local Chinese newspaper that his dedication to nursing has never changed, whether he was in the makeshift Leishenshan Hospital in the city of Wuhan in Hubei, or the hospital he works at currently.

    After returning to his post, Zhao paid special attention to hand disinfection when working. 

    “It’s a habit I developed after I came back from Leishenshan Hospital,” Zhao was quoted as saying.

    A great number of “angels in white” have also fought courageously against the epidemic in fever clinics, community health centers, checkpoints, the airport and quarantine stations across the city.

    Wu Yujuan, chief nurse with the emergency department at Shenzhen Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, was one of the nurses who worked in quarantine stations.

    According to Wu, in the beginning there were only three medical workers at the quarantine station where she was dispatched to Jan. 29.

    At the busiest time, she could only sleep four hours a day. Wu said that although it was toilsome, “all these efforts are worth it” when she saw those who had been quarantined returned home safe and sound.