Photogenic Chaoyang Hospital Physician Becomes Online Celebrity After Delivering Baby at U-Town Mall
Dr. Wang Zihui was only performing her duty on August 15, when she happened upon a woman giving birth at the U-Town mall and stopped to help with the delivery. Little did the Chaoyang Hospital physician know that doing her job would turn her into an online sensation.
On Friday, August 19, a China Daily article details how onlookers' photos of Wang assisting the young mother-to-be went viral on social media. The article says "Chinese Internet users have remarked on Wang's beauty as well as her kind, competent behavior during the emergency birth."
And while much of that online chatter is quite superficial (if not downright sexist), it shouldn't undercut Wang's deft work. Indeed, the young doctor was not only quick to help and cool headed throughout the delivery, she also showed an astounding amount of ingenuity throughout the procedure. For instance, she enlisted some of the mall's staff to become her nurses, of sorts, ordering them to bring her rubber bands that she used to "make two knots in the umbilical cord, cutting off the flow of blood," (according to the China Daily article) so that she could then easily and safely cut the umbilical cord.
Wang was not only helpful throughout the delivery – she also coordinated post-natal check-ups for the new mother at Chaoyang Hospital.
The physician's commendable efforts were a welcome, albeit rare, bit of good news for China's medical community, which is unfortunately prone to bad press. Those negative headlines include everything from scalpers that loiter at hospitals and buy up all the available appointments, only to resell them at astronomical prices, to doctors and administrators that have had to stand trial in major bribery scandals. One can only hope that young physicians like Wang are an indication of a brighter future for China's medical community, and that they prove to be the rule rather than the exception.
Additional reporting by Zhounan Yang.
More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
WeChat: 13263495040
Photos: People.cn
