Hero doctor quick to sing the praises of colleagues

Every morning, after breakfast, Guan Xiangdong quickly wears his heavy protective suit and visits the ward area to participate in the treatment of critically sick patients.

In Sanya, the southernmost city on the island province of Hainan, it is so hot in August that many medical workers find that their clothes inside the protective suits quickly get soaked with sweat.

But Guan, the senior doctor of critical care medicine from Guangzhou-based First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, usually works up to five hours－and occasionally, more than six－in the protective garb, before he can leave the isolation wards and remove his protective equipment.

Arriving in Sanya on Aug 6, Guan has been working on the front line in the fight against the recent COVID-19 resurgence in the city for nearly two weeks.

And after the great effort of the medical workers in that time, hospitals in Sanya are already starting to clear, Guan says. Previously, all the wards were occupied.

"Seeing patients cured and discharged from hospitals is the happiest thing for me," says Guan.

The resurgence in Hainan has seen medical workers battling the new Omicron BA.5 variant, which is highly contagious, with 20 and 30 percent of patients showing symptoms, including fever and sore throat.

"But symptoms like loss of taste and diarrhea are relatively milder compared with those infected by the Delta variant," he says.

In addition to diagnosis and treatment, Guan chats with, and helps calm the anxiety of, patients in the wards.

Liu Zimeng, Guan's colleague, says Guan particularly likes to communicate with patients, and his voice is reassuring.

"Every time Guan comes to the ward, the patients are always pleased to hear his voice, and their response to it is much better than their response to ours," Liu says.

Guan always treats his charges gently and with patience, he adds.

Si Xiang, another colleague, adds that Guan's professionalism and optimism influences the rest of the team.

"Guan is always at the front and he is the one who carries the battle flag for the team," Si says.

It is the 14th time Guan left Guangzhou to help other cities in their fight against the pandemic over the past two-and-a-half years.

In addition to Hainan, Guan has also been dispatched to Hubei, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Yunnan, Hunan and Henan provinces, as well as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Guan says he was honored and happy to learn that he has been named among this year's top 10"most beautiful doctors" in China by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and the National Health Commission, due to his outstanding performance in the fight against COVID-19.

However, Guan will not be in Beijing to participate in the award ceremony on Friday, which marks the fifth annual Chinese Doctors' Day, because he will be hard at work in Sanya, fighting to bring the COVID-19 outbreak there under control.

He says that the title of "the most beautiful doctor" belongs to every medical worker in the country who has fought hard against the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Guan celebrated his 60th birthday in Sanya. He says he doesn't regret being unable to celebrate his birthday with family members.

On the contrary, he says he finds it very meaningful to have celebrated his birthday alongside his colleagues and other medical workers.

"I would, however, regret not being able to participate in the fight against the pandemic," he says.

"It is my duty to cure and save my patients and my family members all support me."

He says that he has become used to celebrating birthdays away from home.

Guan celebrated his birthday last year in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in 2020.

Guan, who loves music and singing, says he has seldom had the opportunity to visit karaoke venues to sing since the outbreak of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, Hubei.

Zhao Beilei, another critical care specialist, says Guan could have become a singer if he hadn't chosen to become a doctor.

Guan once won the first prize in a singing competition when he was in high school.