The healthcare sector is a fascinating industry to be a part of, but few could have prepared for the chaos the Covid-19 pandemic would bring – with hospitals taking the brunt of it on the frontline.
Dr. Kate Gaynor, ESMT Berlin Executive Transition Program alumna (Class of 2019), is the managing director of the United Family Healthcare hospital in Guangzhou, China.
TopMBA spoke with Kate to find out what it’s really like to run a hospital in the middle of a global pandemic.
Initial contact with the disease
As a novel virus, healthcare professionals across the globe were thrown in deep water in how to handle the disease.
Kate said they became aware of the gravity of the situation in the first week of January: “At first, given my background in public health and epidemiology, I was fascinated to watch the emergence of a new infectious disease, but as more concerning reports came out about the sad situation in Wuhan, we all became more worried about the potential impact on us in Guangzhou.
“We held a drill on January 10 to practice how we would handle a patient with cough and fever coming from Wuhan.”
Hospitals in China were the first to come into contact with the deadly disease, and Kate said the Lunar New Year holiday – an important holiday where millions travel to be with family – at the end of January really saw the outbreak take off.
She said: “The government extended the official holiday, but most of our staff that had been away still came back to work.
“While many people were staying home and businesses were closed, we were working every day. Our purchasing team was working all night to secure personal protective equipment. Everyone was an essential part of the response, including our housekeepers who need to follow strict infectious disease control protocols to help keep us all safe. Everyone has been extra supportive and appreciative of their colleagues.”
For now, Kate says community transmission is under control in China, with the focus shifted to preventing imported cases.
She said: “Things are gradually becoming more normal and we have been able to resume many routine services. Still, we remain vigilant and maintain enhanced screening procedures. A second wave of infections could spread if protections are relaxed too soon.
“Throughout the crisis we have continued to move forward with our plans for a new hospital in the nearby city of Shenzhen, which we still intend to open in 2021.”
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