Ai Fen
Chinese
Physician
One of the first medical personnel to report SARS-CoV-2 cases and disclose them through group messaging / social media
Central Hospital of Wuhan
Early life[edit]
In 1997, Ai Fen graduated from Tongji Medical College (now a part of Huazhong University of Science and Technology), and worked in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of Wuhan Central Hospital. She began serving as the director of the emergency department in 2010.[3]
COVID-19 outbreak[edit]
On 18 December 2019, Ai came into contact with the first case of pulmonary infection showing "multiple patchy blurry shadows scattered in lungs" On 27 December, she received a second patient, but this person had no history of contact of Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. In the afternoon of 30 December, the test result of the second patient showed infection with a coronavirus. When she saw the words "SARS coronavirus, pseudomonas aeruginosa, 46 types of oral / respiratory colonization bacteria" on the test sheet, Ai immediately reported to the hospital's public health department and infection department. She circled the word "SARS", and took an image of it and sent it to a doctor at another hospital in Wuhan. From there it spread throughout medical circles in Wuhan, where it reached Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at the hospital.[2] On the afternoon of the same day, Li sent a warning to former classmates over WeChat, which was reposted publicly in large numbers.[4]
On 1 January 2020, Ai again reported to the hospital's public health department and medical office the news of the admission of multiple patients by a clinic owner near the South China Seafood Market, hoping to attract attention. She worried, "Once emergency doctors or nurses get sick, it would be a lot of trouble." Afterwards, Ai was interviewed by the hospital's supervision department, and said that she had suffered "unprecedented and very severe rebuke".[3][4] According to Ai, the hospital officials accused her of spreading rumor as a professional.
On the morning of 11 January, Ai received the news that Hu Ziwei, a nurse of the emergency department, had been infected. Ai called her superiors immediately and the hospital had an emergency meeting, in which the officials directed to change the medical observations of the infected nurse from "viral pulmonary infection?" to "spread-out pulmonary infection." In a meeting on 16 January, officials of the hospitals insisted on denying the existence of transfer of this virus infection among humans.[4]
On 13 February, Hubei Daily published a close-up report on Ai Fen, which praised her. Later, rumors had it that Ai Fen has died of the coronavirus. On 20 February, Ai Fen clarified that she was not sick and was still working as a doctor fighting the virus.[5]
On 8 March, People's Daily published a report from Xinhua News Agency praising Ai Fen as a "heroine [who] has been standing and working hard for more than 40 days and nights".
The "whistle-blower" incident[edit]
After sharing a photograph of coronavirus lab results on 30 December 2019, it was later reported that on 2 January 2020, Ai was summoned by Cai Li, party chief of Wuhan Central Hospital, and was threatened into silence about the report. Cai was later fired.[6]
On 10 March 2020, the People magazine in China interviewed Ai and published her first-person account in its March article "The Whistle-Blower" (发哨子的人). However, the report was forcibly removed within three hours of its publication on 10 March. The original report on the WeChat public account of the journal was also deleted before noon. The mainland media that forwarded the article also deleted the article.[7][8] The official website of the China Human Care Association Hospital Humanities Committee(中国医院人文建设), headed by the Chinese National Health Commission, eventually reprinted the report under the header 「如果这些医生都能够得到及时的提醒，或许就不会有这一天」 ("Had doctors been notified promptly, this day might never have come"; a quote from Ai Fen's account), and thanked the reporters.[9]
Protesting against the censorship, Chinese Internet users started to pass the article through means such as braille, emoji, morse code and seal script.[10][11] It has also been translated into English, German, Japanese, elven runes, and the same format as sequences of DNA.[12][13]
‘Burnt Superman Abao’, whose real name is "Ning Fanggang", denies "publicly publishing obscene words" and seducing Weiming Peking UniversityWang Muxue to commit suicide (suicidal Suicide note: "Every time he He made an appointment with me and asked me to book a room directly. He apologized repeatedly and said he loved me. He even said that if we don’t go to bed, we won’t see each other again.), etc. [14]
Beijing Jishuitan HospitalTian Wei (surgical expert) The deputy secretary of the party committee and his wife were taken away and detained. Tian Wei peed his pants on the spot and became incontinent after being taken into the car. Caixin called Tian Wei’s personal phone number and it said that the phone was Shut down. [15]
Multiple in-hospital deaths in Aier Eye Hospital across the country[edit]
Ai Fen sent pictures and texts to [[Aier Ophthalmology Department of Loudi, Jinan, Baishan, Hengyang, Shenyang, Kunming ]] A case of fatal cataract surgery that killed two people within 10 days occurred. The local 110 arrested and robbed mobile phone, and threatened her to sit in the interrogation room if she was not a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Tiger Bench”. [16]
烧伤超人阿宝本名“宁方刚”否认“公开发表淫言秽语”，引诱未名北京大学王慕雪自杀事件（被自杀遗书：“他每次约我，直接说开房”“他反反复复道歉，说他爱我”“他甚至说过，不上床，以后别见面了”）等行为。[17]
北京积水潭医院田伟 (外科专家)党委副书记夫妇被带走留置，田伟当场尿裤子，被带上车后大小便失禁。财新拨打田伟本人电话，提示已关机。[18]
Dispute with Aier Eye Hospital[edit]
In 2021, she was involved in a high-profile medical dispute with Aier Eye Hospital Group Co. The private hospital, Aier Eye Hospital, performed a cataract surgery on Ai Fen in May 2020. Five months after the procedure she complained that she was nearly blind in one eye with her retina having become detached, leading to a dispute with the hospital over malpractice.[1] She had to stop working after the surgery and during her recovery became too weak to hold her own child, resulting in a mental breakdown.[2] She also said she could no longer walk unaccompanied by family.[1]