On workdays, Li Yanping gets up at 6 a.m. and engages in work at around 7 a.m. On top of that, there are night outpatient services every week, so it has become a routine for Li to return home at 7 - 8 p.m., sometimes even as late as 10 p.m. — This is the timetable that Li Yanping has followed for quite a long time. Li is a deputy to the National People’s Congress and Vice President of Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has made Li very busy. In the past month, she not only needs to take good charge of the epidemic prevention and control in the hospital, arrange work resumption in a timely manner but also needs to make detailed and polished suggestions for this year’s national Two Sessions.

At last year’s national Two Sessions, Li stressed the need to strengthen the protection and care of minors. After returning from Beijing, Li made plenty of efforts, and finally promoted the opening and operation of Chongqing Sister Sha Care Center for Minors & Chongqing One-Stop Inquiry and Assistance Center for Minor Victims in Chongqing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. The center mainly focuses on special cases such as the assault on minors, providing physical and psychological protection, examination and treatment for minors, and avoiding secondary injuries to minors while providing judicial assistance.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, Li served as the leader of Chongqing Expert Guidance Group for TCM Science and Technology Research on Epidemic Prevention and Control and a member of the Chongqing TCM Treatment Expert Advisory Group. Li took the lead in launching the scientific and technological research on the treatment of COVID-19 with TCM and put forward suggestions on TCM’s role in epidemic prevention and treatment. The research results were incorporated into Chongqing’s recommended proposal on TCM diagnosis and treatment.

“The outbreak also reflects some weaknesses in the national public health service system,” noted Li. After the epidemic began to slow down, by means of systematic reflection and research, Li believed that the weak link of the national public health service system was characterized by insufficient hardware and public health personnel.

In terms of personnel training, Li suggests that the financial and educational departments should set up special funds and establish independent public health colleges in some universities to train comprehensive personnel integrating prevention, management, and emergency response. In the meantime, Li also called for strengthening international cooperation in public health and increasing the intensity of scientific and technological research on the normalization of TCM to prevent and treat COVID-19.