CHAPTER 211: 211 JOINING THE FUN BLINDLY

Du Heng was so annoyed.

He had thought all the patients had come from other places, having traveled a long way, but there were actually many local folks mixed in among them.

This wasn’t a supermarket giving away free eggs; he and this Health Clinic weren’t going anywhere, and he’d treated these folks often enough. He really couldn’t understand why these elderly men and women were so eager today, insisting on squeezing in with the other patients to join the commotion.

"Aunt Li, Aunt Li! Yes, yes, I’m calling you! What are you doing here joining the commotion? Didn’t I just give you a check-up last Monday? Hurry back and stop adding to the crowd."

"Mr. Zhang, your old partner is already out. You can go back now... Your health is excellent, no problems at all."

"Aunt Yu, you come every week. Can’t you give others a chance?"

"Sister Li, Sister Li, where are you? Stop busying yourself in the patient rooms. Hurry and take your father-in-law and mother-in-law home."

"Where’s Chef Fan? Get Chef Fan for me. Why is his Mother-in-law here too? Take her home quickly."

Du Heng looked at the familiar faces and felt quite speechless. "Folks, I’m right here, and the Health Clinic is right here; we’re not going anywhere. We’ll have plenty of time later. If you miss today, you can come any other time. My colleagues and I will be ready to serve you. But today, please, do us a favor and let the others be seen first, alright?"

He got a bit agitated as he spoke, even choking on his own saliva. He coughed twice then continued, "It’s almost noon now. You can all go home for your meal soon, but these other people can’t. Besides, we don’t have a restaurant around here. You can’t expect them to just wait around starving, can you? Uncles and aunts, please, just head home for now, alright?"

Du Heng called out four or five times before some people in the crowd began to turn and leave. Among them were many Du Heng didn’t recognize, people he’d never seen before. But judging by the situation, they were likely also from villages near the Health Clinic.

Once these people had all left, the entire hall was practically empty; the crowd had diminished by almost half.

Du Heng was exasperated.

Normally, when they were bored with nothing better to do, these people never bothered to come for a check-up.

But now that people from other places had arrived, they eagerly joined the commotion.

Du Heng, having seen patients all morning, felt a bit numb from it. He went into the office and switched places with Wu Buwei, letting Wu Buwei see the patients while he assisted.

After all, you can’t judge a good doctor’s skill just by listening; a substantial number of disease records are needed as evidence.

The patients who came in later were initially reluctant when they saw Du Heng wasn’t the one doing the examination. However, seeing Du Heng right beside Wu Buwei, watching him treat patients attentively, they didn’t cause any trouble.

Time ticked by, minute by minute, and the number of patients gradually dwindled.

At noon, Du Heng and Wu Buwei skipped their meal, remaining in the consultation room. After all, many patients outside hadn’t eaten either, mainly because there was nowhere for them to get food.

Watching Wu Buwei become increasingly proficient, Du Heng felt a faint sense of pride.

He couldn’t vouch for the lad in other areas, but when it came to treating paralysis and hemiplegia, having handled dozens, nearly a hundred cases, Wu Buwei had certainly become experienced.

As long as the conditions weren’t caused by particularly strange or complex factors, Wu Buwei was unlikely to make mistakes.

The main issue now was that his skills with medication still needed some improvement.

Once Wu Buwei obtained his professional practice license, Du Heng could completely hand over this aspect of the work to him.

Moreover, with the large number of patients today, Du Heng had registered some of them under Yu Haiting’s name.

After all, he was the Dean now and wasn’t short of money. Hogging all the patients would affect internal unity.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon when they finally finished with the last patient.

Du Heng and Wu Buwei finally found time to eat.

"Senior Brother, how was my performance today?" Wu Buwei asked as he took two lunch boxes from the microwave, handing one to Du Heng.

"Very good. Once you get your professional practice license, you’ll be able to admit and treat patients independently." Du Heng was starving. He had already opened his lunch box while speaking, and by the time he finished, the first mouthful of food was in his mouth.

Wu Buwei did much the same, taking a couple of hearty bites. After chewing thoroughly and swallowing, he wore an expression of extreme satisfaction. "Senior Brother, it would be great if we had this many patients every day!"

"You wish! Everyone just came to join the commotion because of the newspaper publicity. Wait a couple of days, you’ll see. There definitely won’t be this many people."

"It’s probably better if there are fewer people anyway. We don’t have nearly enough beds."

Speaking of which, Du Heng stopped eating in the office. He picked up his lunch box and headed out. "You eat by yourself. I’m going to find Secretary Lu to discuss something."

Upstairs, Lu Zhongjiang was on the phone. Du Heng didn’t disturb him, simply taking his lunch box to the coffee table and sitting down to eat.

After Lu Zhongjiang finished his call, he poured Du Heng a glass of water and brought it over. "Eat slowly, don’t choke."

Du Heng hummed affirmatively, took the glass, and downed a couple of large gulps.

"Secretary Lu, I have an idea. I’d like to move our offices and meeting rooms back to the old courtyard. We could then free up this entire third floor to use as patient rooms. That way, we can add over thirty beds."

Lu Zhongjiang refilled Du Heng’s glass and placed it by his hand again before sitting on the other side. "That’s fine. It doesn’t matter where we have our offices. No problem at all."

Lu Zhongjiang agreed readily. "And we can also clear out all the old houses in the back courtyard. The examination room can be moved out too, and the extra rooms can be used as reserve patient rooms. Plus, we can knock through a room next to the Canteen and use it as a restaurant."

"Mhm, mhm." Du Heng nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, that’s exactly the idea. I meant to talk to you about it last week, but I got busy and forgot. Oh, right, the nurses requested that an exhaust fan be installed in the decoction room."

"I agree with that. Every time I pass the decoction room, the smell is truly unbearable. It must be very hard on the nurses working in there."

Du Heng finished the last two bites of his meal, drained his water glass in one go, and then got up to refill it himself. "Then it’s settled. Secretary Lu, I’ll have to trouble you to take charge of these things. It would be best if they could be completed as soon as possible."

Lu Zhongjiang wasn’t one to shirk responsibilities, and neither was Du Heng.

After all, Du Heng was the one primarily responsible for the Health Clinic’s current patient load, so Lu Zhongjiang understood him very well.

"That’s no problem. However, if our bed count increases beyond the stipulated number, our departmental setups will also need to be brought up to standard. Otherwise, we won’t pass the Bureau’s inspection."

Du Heng nodded in agreement.

The number of beds is a benchmark. Below a certain number, you can get by with fudging the departmental setups a bit. But once you cross that line, you have to have everything properly in place.

For example, according to Shanghu District regulations, a facility with fewer than twenty beds can operate without an Emergency Department or a Gynecology Department; it only needs a Chinese Medicine Department, an Internal Medicine Department, and a Surgery Department.

However, once it crosses the twenty-bed red line, all these Departments must be established. Furthermore, equipment like ultraviolet equipment must be installed in the patient rooms. Otherwise, approval for a bed increase simply won’t be granted.