Due to COVID-19, this year's national Two Sessions have been postponed for more than two months. As a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), Li Qiu, director of Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, has been fully occupied during this period. She has been fighting the epidemic, working, conducting research, and preparing suggestions. 

"Wuhan was put into lockdown on January 23; Chongqing activated public health emergency level 1 response on January 24; on January 28, it was made clear that Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University would undertake the centralized treatment of confirmed cases of children in the main city area and severe cases of children in the whole city..." These dates are deeply engraved in Li's mind.

"The outbreak occurred during the Spring Festival holiday when hospitals were already on holiday mode, medical staff began to take turns, and manufacturers suspended supplies," recalled Li, adding that to fight against COVID-19, the hospital immediately set up an epidemic rescue leading group. The whole hospital entered a "wartime state."

"This is a war without smoke, and as the head of the COVID-19 leadership team at the hospital, I have to be at the forefront," noted Li, adding that she took the initiative to give up the Spring Festival holiday, and actively coordinated the epidemic prevention and treatment. The first thing she did was to form three teams, one is the COVID-19 treatment and support team, the other is the expert team, and the third is the joint prevention and control team.

What touched her was that the front-line medical staff volunteered actively at the time of forming the rescue and support team, 60-year-old expert director, newly employed medical technicians, just to name a few. The team of experts is composed of core experts in infection, respiration, intensive medicine, hospital-acquired infection, radiation, testing, etc. The joint prevention and control team is mainly composed of seven professional teams with administrative functions, including joint prevention and control, comprehensive coordination, epidemic prevention, and control, medical rescue and treatment, etc.

Shopping malls and movie theaters were closed to combat the epidemic, and many businesses have pressed the pause button overnight, but hospitals must continue their work non-stop.

"Although the flow of hospital patients has declined significantly, there are still many child patients," stressed Li, adding that children with tumors, leukemia, chronic diseases, and uremia need treatment.

How can we reduce the risk of cross-infection when patients come to the hospital during the epidemic? Li believed that it is necessary to launch an online hospital for diagnosis. Accordingly, with the support of the higher authorities, through active cooperation between information and medical departments and the use of modern information technology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University started in advance the online consultation on its online hospital. It carried out the online prescription and drug delivery for chronic diseases, thus solving the difficulty of patients not being able to come to the hospital for follow-up consultation and drug pick-up. As soon as the online hospital kicked off, it was strongly supported by clinical medical staff and praised by patients.

Li said that she will put forward her own suggestions on children's health, public health services, and economic and social development this year, and will actively make suggestions and perform her duties during the national Two Sessions.