At the front line of battle against disease

From exhaustion to limited resources and facilities, Chinese healthcare professionals brave trying conditions to go beyond the call of duty by helping residents of Ebola-hit areas deal with the life-threatening epidemic. In their own words, the team members recall their valuable experiences of coming face to face with the scourge that shook the world.

MAO QING

Title: Chief medical officer

Age: 50

1981-1986: Student at Third PLA Military Medical University, Chongqing

1986-present: Working at Southwest Hospital affiliated to Third PLA Military Medical University

"I have done nothing extraordinary," Mao said, reluctant to talk about himself at first after arriving back in Chongqing. "I was just doing my job as a doctor, saving lives."

As the man in charge of all medical affairs at the Ebola Treatment Unit, Mao took care of not only the local patients, but also his fellow healthcare workers, who were the group most vulnerable to contracting the deadly disease.

"Any ailment among my team members will make me very nervous," he said. Fortunately, the whole team has been healthy during the 21-day medical observation after returning home on Jan 16.

"I need to make decisions about everything related to my field," Mao said. His job included making individual treatment plans and working procedures, and training team members and their families.

In Liberia, he started working at 8 am and usually finished at about 2 am. In order to get more sleep, he regularly skipped breakfast.

"When my head touched the pillow, I fell asleep," he said. "But I had a lot of dreams, about the hospital and the treatment discussions."

Because it was the only Ebola treatment unit with surveillance cameras on the wards, the unit's Chinese doctors could watch the patients 24 hours a day. Whenever a patient needed care, the medical workers put on their protective suits and rushed in.

"You can barely breathe wearing such suits," Mao said. Medical workers are advised not to wear the suits for more than one hour. But one night he set a record by staying in the wards for three and a half hours as patients kept coming in.

"I felt alive again when I came out of the ward and I was soaked," he said

Mao also attended coordination meetings every other day hosted by Liberia's National Ebola Command Center. "We exchanged information and learned from each other," he said. "It's a very efficient mechanism for combating the disease."