Chapter 253 - 168: Staff Shortage

Chapter 253: Chapter 168: Staff Shortage

Inside the small conference room.

Minister Lin sighed and said with a wry smile, "Alright, go on."

Jiang He rattled off the list as if ordering dishes at a restaurant, "In addition to the Class III fully enclosed glovebox isolator and the FACS Aria II flow cytometer I just mentioned, we’ll also need an ABI 7900HT real-time PCR system. We’ll need two Beckman Coulter ultracentrifuges for cryocentrifugation, with speeds of at least 100,000 RPM, otherwise we can’t concentrate the virus. Oh, right, and an Agilent Bioanalyzer. We can’t do nucleic acid quality control without it..."

"Xiaojiang," Lin Zhenhua couldn’t help but interrupt.

His expression was deceptively pleasant as he asked tentatively, "Is everything you mentioned... absolutely essential? While we do have special national funding, the money still needs to be spent where it counts most. Could some of the more peripheral processes be... streamlined a bit?"

Jiang He began to explain:

"Minister Lin, we’re working on the reverse genetics design for an eight-plasmid system..."

"...This isn’t just about the equipment. This is about taking the lead in establishing international standards."

Lin Zhenhua was stunned into silence.

Although he had also started his career as a doctor, he couldn’t understand any of the technical details.

He could only grasp the key phrase: taking the lead in establishing international standards.

Those words really hit him where he was most vulnerable.

"Fine... I guess."

Lin Zhenhua pondered for a moment. "So to get all this done, what kind of budget are you thinking, roughly?"

Jiang He gave a conservative estimate. "I previously asked Dr. Xu from Beijing Peking Union Medical College Hospital to connect me with a regional director for an equipment supplier in the Asia-Pacific region. Based on this year’s latest price list... the first phase of setting up the lab’s basic hardware will probably be around twenty-five million RMB."

Lin Zhenhua slowly turned his head to glance at Dean Chen.

Dean Chen quickly averted his gaze to the window, pretending to admire the scenery outside.

Lin Zhenhua then turned his gaze to Yang Xu.

Yang Xu nodded twice. "Minister Lin, it’s absolutely necessary! ’A craftsman must first sharpen his tools to do good work.’ My student’s budget is extremely precise. There’s no padding at all."

Lin Zhenhua: "..."

He finally said in resignation, "You kid, you think the provincial department is your personal money printer, huh? Fine. Give me a detailed list, and I’ll personally go apply to the higher-ups for you!"

"Thank you for your trouble."

...

With the matter settled, the leaders stood up to leave.

The moment Lin Zhenhua stepped out the door,

the smile on his face vanished. "Old Chen, come here."

Dean Chen followed with a serious expression. "Minister Lin, what are your orders?"

"That situation Vice Dean Zhang pointed out in the meeting—we can’t just let it go. Is this problem with Ma Huaide just about him alone? On that duty roster, every single doctor who has a conflict of interest with him, who has been improperly admitting patients to high-turnover beds—I want every last one of them investigated thoroughly!"

Dean Chen nodded. "Understood. I’ve already arranged for the hospital’s disciplinary committee to secure Ma Huaide’s office. They’re currently sealing all the duty roster ledgers and medical record computers. I’ll convene an emergency meeting of the hospital’s Party committee shortly to cooperate with the provincial department’s audit team. We will show no leniency."

"The clinical rosters can’t fall into chaos. Old Yang, pulling up the radish will bring up the mud. Once this full-scale investigation begins, your departments will certainly have a group of core staff, attending physicians and above, facing suspension pending review. At this critical juncture, there’s bound to be a huge staffing shortage. Can you handle it?"

"We can handle it. If worst comes to worst, all of us department heads will go to the front lines and manage the beds ourselves. As long as the rules are re-established, a little exhaustion is nothing."

"Good. That’s what I wanted to hear." Lin Zhenhua nodded slightly. "I won’t interfere with the subsequent audit and investigation; I’ll leave that to the disciplinary committee. But I want one result: clean up the culture at Affiliated Hospital No. 1, thoroughly and completely."

...

Minister Lin’s words proved to be a prophecy.

The storm, sparked by the medical affairs department, sent massive shockwaves through Affiliated Hospital No. 1.

That afternoon alone, in major departments like internal medicine, surgery, and orthopedics, several normally active attending physicians were taken away by the disciplinary committee for questioning and suspended from all clinical duties.

The investigation immediately led to staffing shortages throughout the entire hospital.

On the clinical front lines, the pressure doubled.

Young doctors like Jiang He, Xu Chen, and Meng Shiyu, who were completely uninvolved and had clean records, naturally had to shoulder more responsibility.

Jiang He, leading Meng Shiyu on rounds, was the busiest of all.

When he saw Xu Chen, Jiang He asked, "The patient with the liver rupture who’s on conservative treatment, has the follow-up B-scan ultrasound been done?"

"Teacher Jiang, the patient’s peritoneal fluid hasn’t increased. Blood pressure is 110/70, heart rate is 82, and hemoglobin has stabilized with no further downward trend. I’ve already adjusted the intravenous nutrition ratio."

"Good. Keep a close watch on them. Tonight is the critical period," Jiang He nodded.

Due to the severe staff shortage,

even Chen Hao, Tang Pei, and Lu Xiaolin were temporarily conscripted and pulled into the wards to help with basic tasks.

When Jiang He had a spare moment, he asked Chen Hao, "How’s the experiment at the university going?"

Chen Hao replied, "It’s progressing well. The miRNA from the second batch of serum has all undergone isopropanol precipitation, washing, and air-drying. The purity is between 1.8 and 2.0, which meets the extraction standards. The RNA product has been treated with a protective agent and is now stored in the minus-eighty-degree freezer."

"Very good. Keep up this pace. After you’re done, we need to prepare to get it on the machine for large-scale data integration."

"You got it."

Everyone took a short break before getting busy again.

Jiang He, however, fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

With the national-level P3 laboratory project getting underway and the full-scale rollout of the research on the Severe Acute Pancreatitis (SAP) prediction model, the complexity of the experiments would increase exponentially.

Relying on just the six core members, including Cheng Xiyao, was clearly no longer enough.

’To get a leg up on the publication cycle for the top four journals and increase efficiency, I need to recruit more people.’

’But...’

’Recruiting can’t just be about academic credentials and research ability.’

’My research plan absolutely cannot be leaked.’

’If some spy infiltrated the lab... or someone just sold the experimental data for money, that would be a disaster.’

’There’s no shortage of untrustworthy people in this world.’

’If that happens, someone else could easily overtake us on a curve...’

’While the hardware isn’t fully in place and they’re still at a disadvantage in many respects, the Jiang He team’s greatest advantage is the advanced plan inside his head.’

That was why, from the very first day the team was formed, he had given everyone a strict, unbreachable order:

The experimental procedures were to be kept absolutely confidential.

More than top-tier academic ability, Jiang He valued loyalty in his team members.

Even if it meant slowing down their progress slightly, he would never allow his team to be compromised by reckless recruiting.

Quality over quantity.

’Recruiting must be handled with caution, and then more caution.’

"What are you thinking about, Teacher Jiang?" Meng Shiyu asked.

"Nothing. You worked hard revising the medical records by yourself yesterday, so I’ve decided to give you a lesson."

"Oh, yes! Thank you so much! So, what’s the lesson about, specifically?"

Jiang He said, "About the potential harm to oral health from long-term betel nut consumption."

Meng Shiyu: "?"

It seemed like a lesson, but in reality, Jiang He was already quietly evaluating Meng Shiyu’s character.

This brought a certain saying to mind:

"The road of life is long, but the most crucial moments are often just a few steps."

’Xiaomeng, I’ve given you the opportunity. Whether or not you can seize it is up to you.’

...

After finishing his "lesson," Jiang He went to the hospital room of Feng Ye’s mother, Wu Lan.

Compared to a few days ago, there was a palpable sense of life in the room today.

At least they were no longer huddled together crying miserably; instead, there was talking and laughing.

Feng Ye was sitting by the bed, his head lowered as he peeled an apple.

Hearing the door open, he immediately looked up. "Dr. Jiang!"

Father Feng also stood up hastily. "You’re here..."

Wu Lan propped herself up with her hands. "Dr. Jiang, thank you so, so much..."

Jiang He walked over quickly, helped support Wu Lan, and gently guided her back down onto the bed, tucking in the corner of her blanket. "You should just lie down."

As he spoke, Jiang He pulled out the medical chart from the foot of the bed and began to look through it.

"...Mm, judging from the biochemical markers, the jaundice index has dropped significantly, and the tumor marker levels are also trending downward. This shows that the first phase of the treatment plan is indeed effective."

"Really?"

"Of course."

Jiang He turned to Father Feng. "Sir, you stay here with your wife. Feng Ye and I are going to step outside to talk about something."

The two of them walked out of the room.

Feng Ye stood ramrod straight. "Brother Jiang, go ahead."

At this moment, he had become one of Jiang He’s most loyal followers.

If Jiang He told him to hack the Pentagon right now, he wouldn’t hesitate for a single second...

Jiang He said, "I mentioned to you before that I’m working on a project related to Severe Acute Pancreatitis (SAP). Right now, we need to build an early multi-biomarker prediction model—in other words, an early warning system software."

Feng Ye asked, "What specific functions does it need to have?"

"It’s simple. When we input a new patient’s lab values, the system will automatically perform a weighted calculation, output a risk probability curve, and then predict the probability of that patient developing a severe case within the next 72 hours. If it crosses the threshold, it should immediately trigger an alarm."

Feng Ye thought for a moment. "Okay, let me think about how to build it..."

After briefly discussing a few more details,

the two returned to the hospital room.

Just as they got back, they saw an ER nurse, Han Yuan, running toward them, her forehead beaded with sweat.

She was panting, her face anxious.

"Dr. J-Jiang! Dr. Zhao Yumin is tied up in the trauma bay. The ER just admitted a new patient, and he told me to come get you right away!"

Jiang He asked, "What’s the situation?"

Han Yuan said, "Male, 24 years old, admitted for six hours of migratory right lower quadrant pain! Accompanied by nausea and vomiting. His temperature was just taken at 38.9 degrees Celsius. On physical exam, there’s extremely obvious tenderness and rebound tenderness at McBurney’s point, and he’s already showing localized abdominal muscle guarding!"

Hearing this, a diagnosis immediately popped into Jiang He’s mind.

’Acute suppurative appendicitis with accompanying localized peritonitis.’

Although it was just a common Grade 1 surgery, this kind of work normally wouldn’t have fallen to Jiang He.

After all, as a newly hired doctor, he wouldn’t be scheduled for surgery so soon.

But today’s situation was highly unusual.

With Minister Lin Zhenhua personally overseeing things, the order for a full investigation into Ma Huaide and his related network of interests had come down.

In just a few short hours, multiple attending physicians qualified to operate independently had been taken away one after another for questioning.

The remaining associate chief physicians and above were all busy covering shifts and couldn’t get away...

"Teacher Jiang, this patient’s pain level is very high. If we delay any longer and the appendix perforates, leading to diffuse peritonitis, the consequences will be unimaginable. Dr. Zhao said this surgery isn’t difficult, and it’s within regulations for you to perform it... He also trusts you."

"Of course, Dr. Zhao also said that his procedure in OR 3 is almost finished. He’ll come check on you as soon as he’s done. If you find severe adhesions during the operation, he’ll take over."

Jiang He nodded, walking quickly. "Did the patient’s family sign the consent form?"

"They signed."

"Good."

Jiang He nodded.

’The first surgery of my new life is here.’

’I’m finally going to be the lead surgeon.’

’This nostalgic, familiar feeling... it’s not bad.’

"Who’s my first assistant?" Jiang He asked.

"The chief resident originally assigned Dr. Lin, but he’s still stuck in OR 3 and can’t get away. Dr. Zhao said you should just grab one of the rotating interns who’s quick on their feet."

"Alright."

Jiang He paused and his gaze swept across the hallway.

He happened to see a familiar face and called out,

"Hey, Xu Chen, come here."