Not Such a Routine Visit

In March 2012, a 65-year-old American patient visited BJU for a routine checkup. He had been a long-time patient of cardiologist Dr. Qian Rongrong. Because his medical records were already at the hospital, his diagnosis of coronary heart disease occurred relatively quickly. He was transferred to Beijing Anzhen Hospital to undergo a coronary angiography. The angiogram showed that the disease was in the patient’s left coronary artery. This condition is associated with an extremely high death rate and requires immediate bypass surgery.

That day, all the operating rooms at Anzhen Hospital were booked solid, and there were no spare beds in the inpatient ward. Dr. Liu Dong worked with Director of Cardiac Surgery Gu Chengxiong and Medical Affairs Chief Li Jingxin from Anzhen Hospital to coordinate between six departments and clinics to arrange for the patient to receive the emergency surgery he required. The pre-surgery preparations were done at BJU. Because the patient had an Rh negative blood type (very rare in China), BJU and Anzhen Hospital personnel were dispatched to the various blood centers around Beijing to ensure an adequate blood supply for the surgery. At 7 pm, the patient was rushed from BJU straight into an Anzhen Hospital operating room with 400 cc of the appropriate Rh-negative blood waiting for him.

The patient returned to BJU three days after the surgery, the same day his family arrived from the United States to see him. After being discharged from the hospital, the patient experienced a smooth recovery and has continued his visits to Dr. Qian.