July 12
1) Last Thursday was our second hospital visit, this time to the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University. A three star hospital (the highest rank in China), this hospital was founded in 1883. For five years in a row, it ranked among the top 50 hospitals in China. It has almost 3,000 beds and 706 senior chief and deputy specialists. The hospital includes multiple provincial and ministerial-level key disciplines and key disciplines in clinical medicine. It has 42 master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral research stations.
2) That being said, it was Dr. Deng Yibin who came to greet us in his car. It was a quick half an hour ride, and we were greeted by a team of pharmacists and doctors. First off, we were brought to a room to watch a quick introduction video of the formation of the hospital. Turns out this hospital has three separate sites, making it by far the largest hospital in Suzhou.
3) Next, we were shown into the pharmaceutical department, where we got a behind-the-scenes look at how medicine is automatically transported (via a rails system) to the patients' bedrooms! We also had a chance to visit the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) department, same as the hospital we went to last week. Lastly, we spent some time with an Obs and Gyn specialist - who recounted her daily routine. This way, we could draw comparisons with the medical system in both China and Ireland - a fascinating opportunity!
4) At around 11.00am, it was time to go back, and we had a nice walk around the campus surroundings on our way back. The Sun was really out in full force this time, so it was a great relief to enter the air-conditioned building. Pretty much the rest of the day has been spent in the labs, learning more and improving our research skills. That is basically it for today's edition of the blog, and thanks very much for visiting. Have a nice day, cheers! :D
Fabulous group pic in front of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) department of the hospital
Having lunch together at Cafeteria No. 6
(Most of the other cafeterias have shut down due to the school holiday, and will only reopen when the new term begins ):
The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University
(Yes, I pilfered this image from Google...)
Beautiful decorations where we listened to the introductory video
Rails where new boxes are automatically transported to the dispensary, where they are filled with the required medicines
Group pic in front of the TCM dispensary :)
The platforms raise or lower so that there are three levels altogether - top, ground, and underground :)
And there is the car underneath ^^
T'was a hot day, a very hot day
Niamh reclaiming a piece of land for her very own "Phoenix Park" in China XD
I couldn't resist - the sky was so blue!
Lunch today - long beans with minced pork, fried lotus root, and the all-too-famous "狮子头" "shi zi tou" ('lion's head meatball)!
Almost everybody's left for holiday except the graduate students... (and us, of course! XD)
"大排面" literally means what it says in Chinese - a huge pork chop with soup noodles :)
