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Title: A Battle for Life Author: Ba Jin Date: 1958 Language: en Topics: China, health Source: Retrieved on 24 November 2010 from http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/bajin/abattleforlife.html
On May 26, 1958 at midnight, Chiu Tsai-kang, a steel worker of the
Shanghai No. 3 Steel Works, was burned by molten steel. The affected
area extended over 89 per cent of his body, 20 per cent being third
degree burns with the muscles and bones involved. According to Western
medical authorities, a patient with such severe burns would be likely to
die. But due to the affectionate’ concern of the Communist Party, to the
great efforts made by the medical staff and to the widespread support of
society at large, Chiu Tsai-kang is still alive. After being treated for
more than five months his wounds are now completely healed and covered
by grafted skin. On November 23 he was transferred to the Sino-Soviet
Friendship Hospital in Peking for further treatment. Three months later
the function of his joints was restored and he could walk without the
aid of crutches. During his stay in Peking, Chiu Tsai-kang was able to
attend’ and speak at the National Conference of Active Young Builders of
Socialism. On March 19, 1959 he returned to Shanghai to convalesce.
During the course of treatment which saved this steel worker’s life, the
Kwangtze Hospital received enthusiastic support and commendation from
people in all walks of life. A very deep impression was made on some
foreign friends who visited the hospital, by this marvel of healing. Dr.
J. S. Horn, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, after
checking the record of the treatment, said: “I consider the treatment to
be outstandingly good. I have never seen a burned patient who received
such excellent treatment and minute care.” Professor De Rudler, Director
of the Surgical Department of Geneva University in Switzerland, after
personally examining the patient, said: “The treatment given is
excellent. You observe the change of symptoms more thoroughly and
carefully than we do.” Later in talking with Professor Fu Pei-pin he
again remarked: “In your country where flies and mosquitoes can be
exterminated, anything can be done.” A French correspondent Monsieur
Robert Clarke said: “The fact that Chiu Tsai-kang whose burns extended
over more than 80 per cent of his body was saved is regarded
internationally as a rare occurrence.” Again he reported: “In France, a
certain locomotive engineer who was no more than 50 per cent burned
died, notwithstanding the fact that fifteen workers volunteered to offer
their blood and skin for transfusion and grafting.”
The saving of Chiu Tsai-kang’s life proves a truth, namely, that only
under the leadership of the Communist Party, can the life of such a
severely burned patient like Chiu Tsai-kang be snatched from the jaws of
Death. It proves that only by observing the principle of thorough
co-operation between the whole medical staff, and carrying out the mass
line in place of allowing individuals to work alone, can the established
“medical authority” of capitalist countries and the international
medical records be shaken, thus effecting cures which our predecessors
considered impossible.
Such marvels should no longer be regarded as “accidental” in China
today. Following Chiu Tsai-kang’s case the Kwangtze Hospital later saved
sixteen patients with severe burns, sent there from other places. Among
them was an army officer by the name of Teng Ming-chi whose burns
covered 94 per cent of his body, 10 per cent being third degree burns,
who did not arrive in the hospital until seven hours after the accident
occurred. Owing to the fact that a summary of their experiences under
the leadership of the Party had already been made by the medical workers
who had saved Chiu Tsai-kang, Teng Ming-chi recovered steadily and
satisfactorily after he once entered the hospital. Instances from other
places in the country prove that even smaller and less adequately
equipped hospitals are quite capable of saving critically burned
patients just as the Kwangtze Hospital did. Since May 1958 when the
saving of Chiu Tsai-kang’s life caused a furore in the whole country,
hospitals in cities like Tzupo, Chinchow, Hsuanhua, and some medium and
small-sized hospitals in the Tungchow District of Peking and the
Yushihpao mining area, have all saved the lives of critically burned
patients. For instance, Chin Hsueh-chih, a chemical worker of Peking’
was burned over 85 per cent of his body, 60 per cent being second degree
and 20 per cent third degree burns. Benefiting by the experience of the
Kwangtze Hospital, the Tungchow District Hospital finally succeeded in
curing Chin Hsueh-chih.
Success in saving Chiu Tsai-kang’s life reflects a new spirit among our
working class and the broad masses, a new human relationship_a communist
relationship_ which has been developing quickly among the Chinese people
through the Party’s education and since the great Rectification
Campaign. Only by the integration of this kind of spirit with modern
medical technique can such successes in medical work be achieved.
A battle to save life has recently been waged at the Kwangtze Hospital
in Shanghai. This battle is not yet over, but it has already caused a
great sensation in the whole city. The producers of the local film
studio came over to make a film of it. The writer of the scenario was in
the hospital gathering material, and in talking to a young doctor he
asked incidentally, “When I write the scenario, which person should I
make the hero?” The doctor was the assistant secretary of the Party
branch of the medical department, who had taken an active part in this
battle. After a moment’s thought he replied, “Really I can’t say, but if
you want to write this story correctly, you’d better mention everybody,
by that, I mean all the people.” He was correct when he said, “Every
time I talk about this case I can’t help leaving out some people and
facts, but the basis of the story and most worthy of mention are the
masses. The Party linked up the hearts of all these people like a string
of pearls, connecting them together into one whole and it was this whole
that saved the life of our comrade Chiu Tsai-kang.”
Nevertheless the writer of the scenario did finally find one outstanding
character for the film. In going in and out of the hospital everyday he
heard the name of one person being constantly repeated, that name was
Chiu Tsai-kang, more intimately called, “Lao Chiu.” This patient
attracted numberless people to his side, who encircled him and offered
him all available resources. So many people cared for him and loved him!
The writer knew that if he could interpret the drama which was performed
in the Kwangtze Hospital through the character of this one man, it would
surely move the heart of every audience.
I believe that this film will be well made because I discovered that the
writer of the scenario also came to love his hero. One evening when I
met the writer in the hospital, both of us stood on the veranda outside
the window of the isolation ward. The light was very bright in the room
and the doctor was dropping a new kind of medicine on Lao Chiu’s right
leg. Lao Chiu lay on the bed and was in such pain that his whole body
trembled. My heart was very sad indeed. As I looked at the writer I
noticed that he was almost weeping. Later the doctor gave a sedative
injection and Lao Chiu gradually began to fall asleep. When the writer
and I were leaving the hospital we stood again outside the window of the
patient’s room for a while. The lights were low inside now and the
patient was lying silently on the bed.
A joint consultation of medical and surgical specialists was held that
evening on the roof garden outside the isolation ward and the
consultation was not concluded until midnight. This was already 36 days
after Lao Chiu’s admission to the hospital. His condition appeared to be
worse this day. His right leg had become seriously infected. The
polymyxin applied hitherto could no longer control the bacillus
pyocyaneus which had developed a strong resistance to polymyxin. On the
same afternoon a new kind of bacteriophage had been given a trial. This
kind of medicine was made experimentally by the professors and students
of the No. 2 Medical College specially for Lao Chiu. It was very
effective when it was tested in the tube, destroying a culture of the
bacillus pyocyaneus from Lao Chiu’s body. But the doctors were not
certain whether it would be effective when used clinically. These
twenty-four hours were a critical period for Lao Chiu. When the doctors
who participated in the consultation were leaving, not a smile appeared
on any face. Everybody seemed to pin his hope on “tomorrow.”
The day after, I went to the hospital again and found that the
bacteriophage had really taken effect and that the patient’s condition
had improved. So Lao Chiu passed another crisis. When doctors and nurses
talked about him then, smiles again appeared on their faces. Another
victory had been won. They had good reason to be overjoyed.
This bitter struggle for life commenced in the small hours of May 26,
1958. About one o’clock that night an ambulance pulled up before the
doors of the Kwangize Hospital on Juichin Road. Three stretchers were
carried down and taken into the emergency office. Three patients were
escorted by Dr. Li and nurses on duty at the clinic of the Shanghai No.
3 Steel Works, who were all steel workers burned by molten steel about
one hour earlier. One case was fairly light but the other two were
serious. The faces of the two critically burned workers were swollen to
an enormous size and large sections of their bodies were deeply
scorched. The skin on their lower limbs was charred and they were unable
to move their hands which were lifted high up over their heads. The
taller one of the two most badly burned men was grinding his teeth
continually. However, he not only refrained from yelling out with pain,
but encouraged his two fellow-workers to try and bear their suffering in
the same way. He was the 29-year-old Chiu Tsai-kang, a member of the
Communist Party and also an excellent team leader who worked at a
Bessemer converter.
The doctors on duty found that the condition of the patients was so
critical that they immediately telephoned to the surgeons’ quarters and
called up all the resident doctors. As soon as the patients had been
carried into the operating room, all the doctors went about their tasks
swiftly, administering anesthetics and plasma, cleaning, dressing and
bandaging. It was already 4:30 a.m. when they finished their first-aid
measures. After the patients left, a strong smell of charred flesh
remained in the operating room.
Soon after daybreak the head of the organizational department of the
Party committee of the Shanghai No. 3 Steel Works arrived at the
hospital. The Party organizations of the hospital and of the steel works
were in full agreement with that all available forces must be used to
save the lives of these burned men. Accordingly a joint consultation of
specialists was held that morning. All the noted surgeons in Shanghai
were invited. The condition of the patients was indeed most critical.
Comrade Chiu Tsai-kang’s burns extended over 89 per cent of his body;
another young worker’s burns even surpassed his, being as much as 91 per
cent. [1] According to the world’s highest medical authorities, burns
extending over 75 per cent of a person’s body are regarded as likely to
prove fatal. The burns of these two patients were not only extensive but
also deep, even involving their muscles in many places. Therefore all
the experienced surgeons frowned, shook their heads, and expressed their
utter inability to save the lives of these men. One of them said, “It is
only a matter of three or four days.” Another suggested, “At most three
days.” Still a third one said, “Whether medicine is used or not is
immaterial, for in spite of all efforts the patients will die.”
Everybody seemed to agree on one conclusion “death.” In this way the
joint consultation was concluded in a very pessimistic and hopeless
atmosphere. On the basis of mortality statistics in international
medical literature it seemed that these badly burned patients were
doomed to die.
But the Party organization of the hospital would not agree to such a
pessimistic view. The secretary of the general Party branch and the
assistant secretary of the medical department branch immediately
summoned the doctors treating the patients for a talk, and following
that a meeting of all the responsible doctors was convened. The problem
was analyzed from a class viewpoint, and it was stressed that in
capitalist countries it was impossible to obtain the full use of all
resources to save the lives of burned workers, but that in our socialist
country it was possible to mobilize everything available to save them.
For this reason we should not always accept the medical statistics of
capitalist countries and allow them to influence us. The Party secretary
called the attention of the doctors specially to the following points:
First, that they must try to rid themselves of their blind reliance on
established bourgeois medical experience, and they must try to think,
speak and act in bold new ways. Secondly, they must follow the mass line
and depend more upon the power of the people. Finally he said, “The
Party will do everything possible to save these steel workers who have
created vast wealth for the nation.”
Following this the entire body of workers of the Shanghai No. 3 Steel
Works sent in a letter of thanks written in bold characters. They urged
the whole medical and nursing staff of the Kwangtze Hospital to do their
utmost. This letter represented the voice of five thousand steel
workers. They had written, “Use all available powers to save our
critically burned comrades!”
These loud voices helped to unlock the closed minds of the doctors,
swept away the doubts they had, and aroused their enthusiasm. The masses
were inspired to action. The whole hospital proceeded with full
confidence to join in the battle to save the lives of these workers.
After the patients’ admission to the hospital a special treatment group
was organized with four surgeons in charge, namely, the head and
assistant head of the surgical department and two young doctors. When
they accepted their assignments they were not very confident, especially
the assistant head surgeon who simply believed in his own past
experience, in the statistics of international medical literature, and
in the medical equipment and resources of the hospitals in capitalist
countries. Therefore when he first heard the talk of the
vice-superintendent, who was the secretary of the general Party branch,
he had some inner feeling of resistance. He thought to himself, “This is
simply coercing people to try and do the impossible! But since I have
accepted the assignment I’ll do what I can. At any rate, the patients
will die either in the shock stage or later.” With such downhearted
feelings he entered the ward to see his patients.
After he walked in he found that Chiu Tsai-kang had already regained
consciousness after the anesthetic. The burns on his back were
especially bad and he lay on an ordinary bed, his hands still lifted
high above his head and bandaged very tightly. His breathing was very
fast and he could only endure the pain by clenching his teeth firmly.
When he heard the doctor ask him, “How do you feel?” he spoke with great
effort in a low and indistinct voice, “Comrade doctor, please tell me if
my eyes are hurt.”
“Your eyes are very good,” said the doctor.
“Then why is it that everything I see is blurred?”
The doctor stretched out two fingers in front of the patient’s eyes,
asking, “Can you see them?”
“Yes, I can, they are two fingers.”
Again the doctor stretched out four fingers, asking: “Can you see them?”
“Yes, now there are four fingers.”
The doctor smiled and said, ��You see very clearly. Your eyes are very
good, they’re not a bit burned.”
The patient felt quite relieved and said, “In that case I can go back to
the furnace. I don’t mind having some scars on my face and being ugly to
look at.” He recalled the words of a Soviet expert, “You Chinese workers
are really wonderful. Simply with a pair of eyes you can tell when steel
should come out and yet the quality of the steel is always assured.” He
intended to laugh but his whole body began to tremble, and he
immediately clenched his teeth again in agony.
The doctor looked at the patient with compassion and thought inwardly,
“You cannot live more than three days, why do you think of such things?”
As he frowned and was about to walk away the patient suddenly opened his
eyes wide and said: “Doctor, let me implore you to save me. It isn’t
boasting when I say that I am very important and the furnace cannot go
on without me. I can leave my family, wife and children, without
anxiety, but what about the furnace?”
Looking at this immensely swollen face in front of him the doctor gently
consoled the patient, “Comrade, don’t worry and you will recover.” As a
matter of fact, he was thinking quite the opposite, “You will die. I can
be of no more help.” The doctor felt sad and was afraid of hearing the
patient ask such things again. Therefore he left the ward and hurried
away.
Later the assistant chief surgeon told people that he had been a surgeon
for eleven years, had seen not a few patients die and consequently had
become quite cold and indifferent. He was interested only in diseases as
such and had no feelings for his patients as people. But what Chiu
Tsai-kang had said impressed him deeply. Even after he left the
patient’s room he thought it over for quite a long while. Here was a man
awaiting death who had to clench his teeth to endure the searing pain of
his whole body, but who constantly had the nation’s steel production on
his mind and who wholeheartedly desired to return to his furnace. In the
past, he had read of people with such public spirit and unselfish
character only in novels. He had regarded them as nothing but ideal,
imaginary creations of literary writers. Now he has seen such a hero in
the flesh with his own eyes. He was convinced that this man ought to
live and that he was needed for the country’s steel industry. He was
determined to do his best to save him, but how? The more he thought the
more he felt that he could not find a way out. When alone he secretly
shook his head. But suddenly he recalled the analysis made by the Party
secretary regarding “two kinds of social system, two attitudes, and
therefore two different results.” He felt as if he had seen a ray of
light in the darkness. He said to himself, “Lao Chiu can endure pain of
such magnitude, and in spite of his burns he is always thinking of going
back to the furnace. He wants to live. Why should he not be able to
live?” That moment, suddenly the doctor and the patient were drawn
closely together. From then on, the doctor thought of the patient often
and also tried to compare himself with Lao Chiu. The more he compared
the more he felt ashamed of himself and the more eager he was to do his
best for this worker. So, from the very first day the assistant surgeon
learned something from his patient.
Later on, the assistant chief surgeon told the chief surgeon what Lao
Chiu had said to him. The chief surgeon had studied in America. He was a
good-tempered man, who didn’t say very much, but he had experience and
was successful as a surgeon. He did not participate in the treatment of
Lao Chiu from the very beginning. He told people that the first time he
saw him was when the patient had just struggled out from the shock stage
and was not yet able to speak. Apart from the fact that his condition
was critical, the doctor had no other impression. He regarded Lao Chiu
merely as a serious case like any other. When he learned that Lao Chiu
was talking about his own importance he thought that the patient was
rather conceited. Then the assistant chief said emotionally, “His way of
thinking is totally different from mine. If I were burned by molten
steel and was healed I would never go back to the furnace. But he is not
like that. He thinks of going back to work even before he is healed.
Here is the difference between workers and intellectuals. We always
think of ourselves.” This was the first time that the assistant chief
surgeon had spoken this way and also the first time that the chief
surgeon had seen his thirty-year-old colleague so excited. These words
stirred the mind of the chief surgeon and for several days set him
thinking too. The more he thought, the more he felt that his viewpoint
had not been correct. Like the assistant chief surgeon and the other two
young doctors, the more contact he had with Lao Chiu the more he felt
the influence of this worker, and the more friendly he felt toward him
the more he was determined to save him. The doctors realized very
clearly that their minds and emotions were changing from day to day. On
the one hand they were healing the patient, and on the other it looked
as if they were healing themselves too. It was this chief surgeon who
first volunteered to offer his skin when grafting began.
The battle to save a life had now commenced. On May 28, during the
morning consultation of surgeons, a decision was reached to draw the
masses into the effort. Forty-nine surgeons were called in and each one
of them was asked to read two articles concerning the treatment of burns
in foreign countries during the last few decades and then, by
integrating these reports with their own clinical experiences, to make
suggestions for treatment. That afternoon they met again to discuss
methods of treatment and in the course of discussion, each of them
offered his opinions without reserve and made concrete proposals.
Finally they agreed on some new measures to be taken including fifteen
recommendations.
This was a good beginning. All the outmoded rules of the hospital were
broken. Minds which had been tied down by subservience to foreign
experience were now set in motion. People began to speak, to think and
to act boldly. A new world opened in front of them. They knew that what
they were doing now was something unprecedented which doctors in
capitalist countries had not been able to do. They were engaged in a
battle to save lives and as the scope of the battle became wider an
increasing number of people were drawn in. Later on when a difficulty
occurred in the course of treatment they solicited the opinions of many
doctors both within and without the hospital, depending on the wisdom of
the many to tide over one crisis after another.
The patient was now moved from the ward for serious cases to a strictly
sterilized operating room, the bandages were removed and exposure
treatment commenced. Air-conditioning in the operating room was strictly
controlled to help diminish the high temperature of the patient’s body
and at the same time, to ensure that the exposed muscles were not
injured by cool air. Doctors and nurses did their best to find ways and
means of mitigating the patient’s suffering.
During the first few days the patient needed a large volume of blood
plasma. The doctors made a request to the blood bank and the staff in
charge immediately replied without any hesitation, “All right, any time
you want it we are prepared.” As a matter of fact, they made
arrangements so that when the hospital’s supplies of blood and serum ran
low, other institutions quickly sent more from their laboratories. A
difficult after-effect of severe burns is the patient’s total loss of
appetite. In order to arouse his desire for food, the head nurse sent
for the menus of Shanghai’s best restaurants and they were read aloud to
him over and over again. Gradually the nurses succeeded in arousing his
interest in some dishes, which they immediately ordered and tried to
feed to him.
Three days were safely passed and the first round was won. Needless to
say everybody’s confidence increased. The patient’s condition began to
improve and the doctors learned more themselves day by dya. The changes
in the chief and the assistant chief surgeon were most noticeable. At
first they felt that they were just fulfilling their duty to the injured
worker but were very dubious about the result. But then, full of
confidence they really began doing their best. Formerly although they
were interested medically, they were rather indifferent to the patient
himself. Now they were filled with love and respect for him. In the
course of the treatment they realized more deeply than ever the
superiority of socialism, which the Party secretary emphasized so often.
Later the assistant chief surgeon declared at a public meeting, “When I
think that so many people are concerned about him and ready to help I
begin to feel stronger. I feel a new source of strength in my heart.”
This man who had never believed in medical marvels before was now
wholeheartedly taking his part in this extraordinary battle to save a
life. This even he himself never dreamed of in the beginning!
Indeed the masses were stirred into action. The whole hospital, the
whole medical world and the whole society of Shanghai, were all
supporting this battle to save life. The whole body of doctors, nurses
and others of the Kwangtze Hospital continually offered proposals
whereby their collective and creative labor might help to protect the
patient in passing through his second big crisis, namely, infection by
bacillus pyocyaneus.
In order to effectively control the bacillus pyocyaneus, the Kwangtze
Hospital began to make combined antibiotic sensitivity tests. This was
proposed by a professor of the Shanghai No. 1 Medical College. This
professor had conducted research studies in antibiotics before. He did
not only take part in every joint consultation, but also came every
other day to the Kwangtze Hospital to make suggestions as if the patient
were his own. In addition he also asked the help of his own hospital in
conducting experiments. Later a total of 58 different experiments were
made for the production of an effective drug for the control of bacillus
pyocyaneus septicemia. In this way polymyxin was decided upon.
To help the patient resist infection the doctors began skin-grafting. On
June 5, the first grafting took place. The chief surgeon, assistant
chief and other doctors and nurses worked at high tension for a whole
night. From 10:30 p.m. till 5:00 the next morning, they cut off the
burnt tissue and grafted healthy skin to his hands and legs. Many people
asked to have their skin used. At noon on that day, an old women died in
the hospital. Her husband willingly offered her skin, saying, “She would
be glad to help a hero who’s building socialism.” The first attempt at
skin-grafting proved successful. Eleven days after, on June 16, the
second grafting began. On that the number of applicants offering their
skin increased to more than 800. The time for grafting was in the
afternoon but at twelve o’clock, people began to line up waiting to be
chosen. A nurse attending Lao Chiu wrote in her diary, “I put down my
name at noon. I wanted to have my skin grafted on Lao Chiu’s body. My
skin is good and is certainly fitted for the need. Even to do one
helpful thing for Lao Chiu is glorious.” The doctors finally decided to
use the skin of four persons, three of whom were nurses. The fine hair
on a portion of their skin was shaved and the skin prepared in readiness
for the operation. But at that very moment a child died in the hospital.
It was possible to use this child’s skin on Lao Chiu’s back and it
obviated the need to use the skin of living persons.
On June 21 the doctors decided to give two healthy volunteers for blood
donation an injection of a combination of three bacterial vaccines. It
was believed that as a result, their blood would contain anti-bodies
which would kill the bacteria in Lao Chiu’s blood and increase his power
of resistance. As soon as this news spread, the students and nurses of
the Shanghai No. 2 Medical College hastened to volunteer. Two girl
students who were lucky enough to be chosen waited impatiently for a
reaction. They kept asking each other, “Do you feel bad?” “Have you got
a fever yet?” hoping that the higher the fever developed the better the
response. The transfusion was given and after three days they returned
to school. One afternoon they came to the veranda outside the window of
the isolation ward to see Lao Chiu. He was still lying in bed and was
unable to move his head at all. When he heard from the nurse that these
two girls had given their blood to him he opened his eyes to look at
them trying to express his thanks by a smile.
There is also a special story about the turning bed. Lao Chiu’s burns
were so extensive that, with the exception of his scalp, two shoulders,
the waist where his leather belt was worn and the soles of his feet,
practically his whole body was affected. His back and hips were burned
deeply and his right leg was even worse. Every time it was necessary to
turn him over and change his dressings ten doctors and five nurses were
required and the process took several hours. Moreover, the patient
suffered very much and was short of breath for a long while. When he
slept face up, his back became seriously infected; if he were turned
over it was bad for his chest. In order to reduce his suffering and
expedite healing, it was necessary to make a specially designed bed. The
doctors found a picture of such a bed in a foreign book and accordingly
assigned the job to the technicians of the hospital saying that it was
required the next day.
As soon as the technicians learned that this bed was for Lao Chiu they
immediately set to work. On the basis of that rather indistinct picture
and according to the patient’s size they made a rough sketch in the
workshop. They started working at two o’clock in the afternoon and the
bed was finished the next morning at seven.
An air mattress for the bed was designed and made by the Shanghai No. 2
Plastic Works. In the afternoon of the same day a doctor had hurried
over to the Plastic Works to arrange for the making of an air mattress.
Unfortunately it was the workers’ day off. But when the manager learned
that the air mattress was for the burned steel worker, he immediately
called some workers living nearby. The request of the hospital was made
clear to them and they started to work, designing as fast as they could.
By one o’clock in the morning they had finished the job and a brand-new
soft air mattress, a type that had never been seen in Shanghai before,
made its appearance.
An hour later the doctor brought it back to the hospital. Although it
was two o’clock in the morning, lights were still on in the courtyard in
front of the hospital workshop. Everyone worked with extreme intensity
and showed not the slightest fatigue. Now the bed was made, the air
mattress was put on it, and everybody tried to lie on it to feel if it
were comfortable. It took only two minutes to turn the patient over.
Even after the bed had been moved into the operating room still the
technicians did not feel quite satisfied. Quietly they stood by the door
of the room, waiting for somebody to come out, so that they might ask
whether the bed was all right. The manager of the Plastic Works also
rang up to inquire whether the air mattress was satisfactory. If not, he
said, they would try to make a better one.
The turning bed served its purpose very well, and when Lao Chiu was
moved from the operating room to the isolation ward the bed also went
with him.
Another of the numerous moving incidents connected with the hospital
happened before this turning bed was made. The doctors had been over to
the Shanghai Medical Instruments Factory to look for a suitable bed
there. They had a bed for fracture patients. When they learned that the
hospital needed it, many workers racked their brains to remodel it in
order to make it possible for Lao Chiu to sleep comfortably. Late that
night, after the bed had been delivered to the hospital, an old worker
who had been involved in the job of designing, came to the hospital from
the Yangshupu District. He declared, “When I returned home from work I
thought that it might be uncomfortable for the patient to sleep in this
way. I thought it would be better to put in a few alternating wooden
boards for turning purposes.” To obtain these special wooden boards, he
had crossed the greater part of Shanghai. He made a sketch of his scheme
and he said that if he hadn’t come over he would have been unable to
sleep in peace that night.
Once the patient needed a very special type of medicine but it was out
of stock in Shanghai. The Shanghai Pharmaceutical Company immediately
cabled to Canton and the Canton office at once sent it by plane. Within
three days the medicine was in the hands of the doctor.
Another night a member of the nutrition department of the hospital went
over to a restaurant to buy fish ball soup, a special delicacy, for Lao
Chiu. The restaurant had just shut down and had put out its cooking
stove. When the cooks heard that Lao Chiu wanted fish ball soup they
started the fire again and began to work immediately. There was no fresh
fish on hand so they went out to borrow some from another restaurant.
The whole staff of 57 workers prepared these fish balls with a special
message to Lao Chiu. “Each fish ball represents a heart and is offered
to you to express our love and sympathy.” They chose two delegates to
deliver the fish ball soup to the hospital in person.
Moving stories of this kind are too numerous to mention. Not only 57,
but thousands and tens of thousands of hearts were concerned about Lao
Chiu and it seemed as though everybody was waiting for an opportunity to
do something for him. Letters of consolation and encouragement came from
all over the country indicating that everybody wanted him to live. Young
Pioneers continually wrote letters urging the doctors to do their
utmost. The whole staff of many medical units sent in letters expressing
their devotion, “We are willing to offer him everything, our skin, our
blood and our strength. It would be our greatest honor if we could have
a small share in the arduous task of saving our beloved Comrade Chiu
Tsai-kang.”
Such is our people’s concern for the fast developing steel industry and
such is our people’s love for the noble qualities and heroic spirit of
our steel warriors.
During all these days Lao Chiu was lying on the bed suffering continual
pain. The doctors and nurses did their utmost to reduce his suffering to
the minimum, but they could not completely relieve it. Even the chief
surgeon said once, “When we were healing him I often thought that if
another person was in his place he certainly would not have stood it so
long, but Lao Chiu endured everything. When I saw him grinding his teeth
to suppress his groans, I felt so touched that the tears feel from my
eyes.” Indeed he suffered great pain for a long period. While changing
the dressings even laughing gas anesthesia could not keep him quiet.
Sometimes these pains were so intense that his whole body trembled
uncontrollably. Sometimes in trying to bear his pains he would shout,
“Come over, Chairman Mao! Come over, Chairman Mao!” As soon as he
mentioned Chairman Mao’s name it gave him courage and he felt he could
stand even greater pain.
In the very beginning when he lay panting for breath, his pain seemed to
be intolerable. When the secretary of the Party committee of the
Shanghai No. 2 Medical College came to see him, he told him, “You
believe in the Party when you are at work. You must also believe in the
Party when you are sick.” He then promised the secretary that he would
endure even greater bodily pains if necessary.
One time his condition became worse and even the assistant chief surgeon
was alarmed and considered the battle as hopeless. Lao Chiu himself also
realized the gravity of the situation and said to his wife, “It looks as
though my condition is very critical and the two children will be left
in your hands.” That evening the assistant secretary of the general
Party branch came to see him and Chiu revealed what was in his mind. The
secretary encouraged him to have faith and said, “You will certainly
recover. With the Party by your side what problem cannot be solved?” He
listened to the words of the Party just like a child listening to his
mother. So once again he became optimistic. The Party always advised him
to have confidence in and to cooperate with the doctors. In this respect
he behaved unusually well all the way through. For instance, although
changing the dressing was always extremely painful, he said to the
doctors, “Go ahead! How can the burns be cured without changing
dressings?” In swallowing food, the movement of his neck also caused
considerable pain and for this reason he was reluctant to eat. But in
order to get well, he needed plenty of nutritious food. From the moment
the secretary of the Party committee persuaded him to eat, he took it as
a serious duty and tried to do it. But he could not eat enough to supply
the amount of nutrition he needed. The doctors had to insert a stomach
tube through his nose and give him additional nourishment. The presence
of this tube increased his difficulty in breathing, but nevertheless he
accepted the directive of the Party and endured the discomfort without
any complaint.
When his wife came to see him in the hospital for the first time he
reminded her, “Pretty soon it would be the fifth day of the month.
Remember to pay my Party membership dues for me. Do not let others
advance the money. Pay it out of our own cash.” Then he continued, “Do
not forget. The Party is my life.”
He regarded the Party as his life, so he always listened to the words of
Party representatives. Indeed his desire to live was for the Party and
also for the work which the Pary entrusted to him.
Once Lao Chiu told a young doctor about his former life. He said, “In
the past I was a miserable man. I suffered much in the old society.” He
was a poor peasant on Chungming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River
and was pressganged into the Kuomintang army. He escaped and went back
home. Then he did some peddling in Shanghai, served as a boy on a
steamship, drifting about here and there without any fixed occupation.
Then liberation came. In 1951 he entered the Shanghai No. 1 Steel Works
as an apprentice and very quickly became a skilled worker. He joined the
New Democratic Youth League in 1952 and the Party in 1955. In 1956 he
was transfered to the Shanghai No. 3 Steel Works and afterwards served
as the team leader of a group working at a Bessemer converter.
When the accident occurred in the Shanghai No. 3 Steel Works he was
covered with flames. He crawled out from a small window and rolled down
from the platform still in flames. The workers held him, extinguished
the flames and he then became unconscious. When he came to, he
immediately thought about the steel furnace and the production target
for the year. He hoped to return to the steel works at the earliest
date. When his fellow-workers came to see him,l he encouraged them
saying, “Don’t be afraid, accidents like this happen very seldom. Do not
be scared and feel discouraged. Try to work still more energetically.”
When the Party secretary of the No. 3 Steel Works came to see him he
said regretfully, “I am afraid our target for this month cannot be
reached.” He often talked about going back to the steel works to help
overtake Britain in steel production.
At night he sometimes cried out in his dreams, “Molten iron! Molten
iron! Release the ladle a little and push the wagon nearer!” It sounded
as if he were directing his work beside the converter. Once when he woke
up, his wife who was by his side, asked him what he was talking about,
saying, “You seemed to be in your workshop.” He replied: “I have been
there all along.”
Even while he was enduring terrible pain, his mind remained perfectly
clear. Flat on the bed, unable to move, his whole body sore and
trembling, he never forgot to care for others and help them. His mind
was active all the time. As a nurse said: “He always looked at problems
from a political point of view. Very often he would offer his opinions
on a subject; sometimes they were sharp but correct.” He behaved like
this when he worked in the foundry and also when he was sick in the
hospital.
One day a young nurse was reading the papers to him and all she read was
the light news. He said: “When you read the papers you ought to read the
editorials first, then the great events of the nation and then
international news.”
Lao Chiu was this kind of a person. While lying in the isolation ward of
the Kwangtze Hospital he acted not like a patient but rather as a
responsible political instructor. All along he kept his mind on the work
of ideological education. He continually used his own living example,
his sharp criticism and concrete suggestions to help educate and to
unite all who had direct or indirect contacts with him. They all loved
him, respected him and developed deep friendships with him.
The battle to save life is still going on. Up till now Lao Chiu has
already lived for forty-four days. He lives on stubbornly and endures
all suffering. Already he has become a banner, a fresh red banner. Many
people regard him as a source of encouragement and as a model for them.
Many consider him as a personification of the noble qualities of the
working class and as a shining example of the great spirit of communism.
This battle to save life will eventually be won. The fact that Lao Chiu
has lived until now is already a medical marvel. He has passed through
one crisis after another and later he may face still more. But he will
certainly live. Blind faith in established experience has been
shattered, outmoded regulations have been smashed. The Kwangtze Hospital
in Shanghai has really waged and won two battles: a critically burned
patient lives, while the doctors who were healing the patient have been
educated by him. The malady of the doctors was by no means lighter than
the patient’s burns for the disease of these intellectuals was in their
minds and had been there for a considerable length of time. If any
intellectual were in Lao Chiu’s place and compared himself with this
worker, he would certainly realize his own limitations. When he analyzed
his own problems he would be willing to correct them.
This battle for life is pushing forward the whole of Kwangtze Hospital,
and the whole medical profession of Shanghai. The fact that this battle
has been so victorious and has had such a great influence, is not due to
any individual doctor’s effort. In such an arduous struggle, the role of
the individual is very limited. Let me recall the words of the secretary
of the Party committee of the Shanghai No 2 Medical College: “Only when
the masses were aroused under the leadership of the Party, with one mind
and one goal, could such a force be generated.”
Therefore although the writer of the scenario had made Lao Chiu the
leading character of his play, what he emphasized was the role of the
people, of the masses of socialist society.
July 9 1958.
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[1] This worker, Liu Sse-hsiao, died on the eleventh day after his
admission to the hospital. His loss saddened the staff, but they had
kept him alive eight days longer than had been thought possible, and
this made them more determined than ever to save Chiu Tsai-kang — Ed.