Chinese medical workers create bilingual graphics to treat foreigner

Medical workers in a hospital in Yiwu city of Zhejiang province managed to help save the life of a foreigner with their professionalism and wisdom last month.

Ofori, a 34-year-old Ghana businessman, was admitted to intensive care at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine for sudden chest pain, shortness of breath and severe leg edema when he was on a business trip to Yiwu, news portal ynet.com reported on Wednesday.

He was later diagnosed with gradual kidney failure and cardiac insufficiency — a serious life-threatening condition.

"His blood pressure kept soaring, and he had a 'white lung' appearance," said Chen Chu, deputy chief of the nephrology division.

An emergency tracheal intubation was performed immediately, but didn't work well.

"His wife lost of hope when she got the news, and decided to stop the treatment for fear of expensive medical costs," Cheng said. "But we still wanted to take the chance rather than give up."

As the treatment included an endotracheal intubation — which requires inserting a tube through the patient's mouth then into the airway — Ofori found it hard to express his wishes, as he doesn't speak Chinese.

To help him better communicate and avoid unwanted body movements, nurses who took care of Ofori created Chinese-English posters, illustrated with pictures. The graphic contains words relevant to patients' everyday lives such as "cold", "warm", "thirsty", or "time" which only requires the patients to point with their fingers.

During his treatment, hospital staff also helped Ofori apply for an extension to his stay in China.

Luckily, Ofori was out of danger after eight days of treatment and attentive care from medical workers. After being discharged, he went back to Ghana for further treatment with a medical record given by Chen Chu in English.

"I feel so much love in China," Ofori said, "and that's why I fell in love with the country."