During the Pandemic: Fever, Cough, Nasal Congestion, Diarrhea - Please Go to a Fever Clinic

Today I saw a news report: Guo, a vice president of a hospital in Fugou County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province, violated the State Council health authority's pandemic-control rule that medical institutions without fever clinics must, after seeing fever patients, refer them in a closed loop to designated institutions equipped with fever clinics for treatment. Knowing that a certain patient was febrile, he still treated him, creating a serious risk of COVID-19 transmission. So on January 10, 2022, the Fugou County Public Security Bureau, under Article 330 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, opened a criminal investigation into this vice president on suspicion of obstructing the prevention of infectious disease.

This is not the first time a physician has been investigated on suspicion of obstructing infectious-disease prevention. Previously, the Lu'an (Anhui) Health Commission also reported that local police had opened obstruction investigations against two physicians; both were later sentenced to over a year in prison. In fact, since the COVID-19 outbreak, similar cases have appeared in many parts of China. Some time ago, when the Inner Mongolia outbreak spread to Beijing, several medical institutions, pharmacies, and practitioners in Beijing were penalized.

Many people do not know that China has a Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, nor that it is one of the important laws and regulations physicians must follow. During an infectious-disease epidemic, apart from the specialized infectious-disease clinics (fever clinics and intestinal clinics) set up in various localities, no other physician or medical institution may admit on their own initiative patients whose symptoms relate to the epidemic disease; otherwise they will face criminal investigation.

So during the pandemic, privately asking a familiar doctor to treat conditions involving fever, cough, diarrhea, or nasal congestion could land your physician friend in prison. Ordinary physicians, in this extraordinary period of epidemic transmission, should not only refuse such patients but have a duty to immediately report to epidemic-control authorities and send the patient to a specialized infectious-disease clinic. Only in this way can the infectious disease be brought under control.

These are extraordinary measures for extraordinary times; the nation is devoting its full strength to preventing the spread of the outbreak. At such a time, every citizen has the duty and responsibility to abide by the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases. So, dear patients, do not make things hard for your physician friends; out of responsibility for yourself, your family, and others, if you have fever, cough, nasal congestion, diarrhea, or related symptoms, please go to a fever clinic. Note that not every hospital has a fever clinic; fever clinics in various localities can be found online. Before going, confirm that the hospital you plan to visit indeed has a dedicated fever clinic.