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Warrior Prime: Life & Death of an eye doctor

Sitting on a quiet bench of the Cherry Blossom Park by the side of East Lake, Li could sense that there truly was something wrong, very wrong with these times. Not the cold. Temperature in Hubei in these parts of mainland usually dropped below minus five degrees in winter. On a chilly afternoon as it was, you would definitely not miss the golden hue on the gleaming East Lake, reflecting the aura out of the eventitude of a setting sun. You would find kids chirping, playing too. Most people from all parts of the province who came over to Wuhan city on business or pleasure made a point to visit this part of the city once, hence the crowd. Li loved observing people in joy; it was thus common for him to turn up here often on his way back home from the clinic. But today it was different.

In spite of all the crowd and cackle, Li’s mind had ventured downstream along the Yantze to his native place in Beizhen, that he had seldom missed over last fifteen years now. Like every other small-town kid of his age, Li dreamt of heading off towards the city lights once he finished school. Well, his dream did come true; when he secured admission in the Wuhan University School of Medicine. Excellent academic records, the letter from the collegium read. Ophthalmology was not exactly his choice of subject though; he thought immunology or gen medicine would have suited better for him. But then, it was for the Party to decide where to best use its resources. And you had to trust the Party when Party said that it knew what was just the best for you. Things were easier once he came over to Wuhan and joined college. In fact, first year was mostly basketball. It was during one of the matches during a similar coldish evening that he met Fu, Fu Xujei. Ten years with that woman and how Li still fondly remembered the perfume she wore that day, how the aroma of oranges from her body reminded him of the small garden at his village home backyard. Things had been going really well for the Wenliang family; and not before long Li and the wife were planning for a second child(Li wanted a daughter this time). China’s child policy had got relaxed over the years; with Li having a Party membership since second year of college, getting necessary clearances was never a problem. Fu Xujei was really the dream girl for Li, the best companion destiny would ever bestow him with; and realizing how little time he could devote for her over last few years, and that possibly he was never going to see Fu again, Li could actually feel tears pushing through the corner of his eyes, partly in a silent apology for the woman he loved the most in this world.

 

A fortnight back, on the morning that it all started, the test results of Fu had come in. It was 70:30 in favour of a male foetus, but Li was not unhappy. He hardly took notice of a ProMed (Programme of International Society for Infectious Diseases) notification from the Director of the Emergency ward of Wuhan Central on his screen that showed reports of a case with high confidence level for a respiratory disorder, otherwise classified SARS in medicine. The patient was, however, uncommonly non- receptive to the common treatment methods used to remedy such respiratory issues. Within one hour of the first case detected, seven more similar cases were reported by Wuhan CDC. Queerly enough, Li noticed in all case histories, that all the subjects had been in contact with the nearby wet market over last 24 hours. Li’s investigative spirits were on a high by now; he just was not sure whether he wanted to post it on the official portal of the hospital. Instead, he decided to check back in the med school classmates’ WeChat group, where he posted his worries along with test results of all seven recorded cases at Wuhan Central that day, with a general note of concern for his college buddies and their families. Little did he realize this single action on his part was going to pen the destiny of the rest of his life.

SoCD or Smartphone Cognitive Disorder. This is the term modern medical science uses to address the human tendency of grabbing your mobile phone in a reflex action the moment you wake up, and then going thru updates that entered your phone overnight. When Li was unable to open his WeChat account the next morning after repeated attempts, he still never doubted that the government might have something to do with that. He went about his normal shift in the Ophthalmology Department the next morning. It was not until afternoon that Li was summoned to the Director’s office for a ‘discussion’ with the hospital administration and senior Party members, whereupon he was shown handouts of multiple screenshots of his own WeChat account from the classmates’ group. His concerns on the severities of the new SARS contagion had circulated and apparently led the entire city to panic, they said. Li tried to reason with them citing their uncommon response to treatment or the wet market link but the Committee would not listen. That was not the argument, they said. What should an Yanke- Yisheng, or an eye doctor, would have to do with all this anyway, they asked. Li was asked whether he was counseled by anybody else in this rumor- mongering. When Li stood his ground, they let him be for the time being.

But not for long. Agents of Wuhan Public Security Bureau picked up Dr Li Wenliang on 3rd Jan 2020, whereupon he was charged by a special court for “publishing untrue statements about seven confirmed SARS cases at the Huanan Seafood Market”. He was made to sign a letter of admonition promising not to do it again. The police warned him that any recalcitrant behaviour would result in a prosecution. As a part of state policy to effectively counter rumour- mongering, Li was made to publish a statement of admission of such charges on his personal social media accounts. Further, the entire episode of trial and Li’s punishment was televised on China Central Television. It was made sure that his family members watched.

Li got back to work on 8th Jan and got infected by the novel Coronavirus on the same day, while treating a glaucoma patient without personal security measures. Some say, it was foolish of him, while still others believe that he was under tremendous pressure from the hospital and Party upperline to be on record denying the existence of any new SARS virus. Li thought it better to spend his final days away in confinement, away from his family who he feared might get affected from him. He booked a hotel and a cab after work; and in a bid to avoid detection, put the pick up point as Cherry Blossom Park.

Sitting in the park while brooding on all this, a beep on his phone alerted Li that the ride was nearby. As he started walking towards the gate of the park in the dusk, two questions bore on Li’s mind. Firstly, will his bid to save his family, his beloved, the son and the still-unborn-one, be successful? Will they be able to come out of the stigma they were subjected to? He wasn’t sure. Secondly, will his whistleblower act, that severed him from his life, career, family and everything else he stood for, be remembered? Hell, Li wasn’t sure of that either.

[Postscript: Dr Li Wenliang was recovered from an undisclosed location in Wuhan on 10th Jan 2020 and admitted in ICCU with severe infection. The existence of Li’s personal blog where he documented his discoveries was reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa on 1 Feb. On 4 Feb, the Chinese Supreme People’s Court said that the eight Wuhan citizens (including Dr Li Wenliang) should not have been punished as what they said was not entirely false.By this time, the novel virus had found its way to other south-east Asian nations like South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, with a few stray cases from the Middle East and Europe. Dr Li Wenliang passed away after a fierce battle with the novel coronavirus on 20 Feb 2020.]

This Blog is by Abhijit Mitra

VCRC 99-01 SER, Presently working as ATTACHE` in the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India