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Doctor and elderly patient captured in touching moment in Wuhan sunset moves netizens
Source:Global Times Published: 2020/3/6 1:14:16 Last Updated: 2020/3/6 5:21:44
Photo: Gan Junchao
"How do you like the sunset?" Liu Kai, 27, a doctor from the Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital fighting on the frontline against the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, asked an 87-year-old COVID-19 patient while escorting the elderly man back to the inpatient ward from a CT scan on Thursday afternoon.
"It is beautiful," said the elderly man, who was lying in a movable hospital bed. The picture went viral on Chinese social media late Thursday showing the man and Liu looking up at the gentle sunset with their fingers pointed towards it. The man's body was propped up on a pillow.
"He hasn't seen the sun for a month," Liu told Shanghai-based news outlet thepaper.cn.
Liu said on their way back from a CT scan, the warm sun brightly shined on them so he asked the patient if he wanted to stop for a while to soak it up.
"We were both very happy standing in the sunshine together," Liu told thepaper.cn, saying that he has barely had a chance to see the sun himself as he has spent a lot of time inside inpatient wards recently.
A medical worker alongside them snapped a picture of the moment: two men with 60 years between them in age standing together enjoying the sunshine in epidemic-stricken Wuhan, one in a hospital bed while the other in a protective suit strapped from head to toe.
The picture soon struck a chord with millions of Chinese netizens.
"It is not only the sun, but the picture also shows hope," said a netizen.
"The moment, so warm." "The light is right in front of them!" said another.
Liu sent the patient back to his room a few minutes later. "He was very happy and fell asleep pretty quickly," Liu said.
Liu's team is working at the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University where all patients are in either a critical or dangerous condition.
When Liu and his team arrived at the hospital, he said the 87-year-old patient was in a critical condition and gave everyone the cold shoulder as his family could not come to see him often due to traffic restrictions. The Shanghai team thus took the full responsibility of looking after him, Liu said.
Twenty days since then, the man's situation has gradually improved and he has gotten along better with medical staff, according to Liu.
"Most of the patients' conditions have stabilized as of now and some have been discharged," Liu said.
He said that a patient who was expected to be discharged shortly wrote down all the names of medical staff on a piece of paper and some others also promised to treat the team to Wuhan hot dry noodles, a famous and popular Wuhan snackfood when the epidemic finally finishes.
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