Chapter 1     You are fired

“You are fired.”

The Chief Medical Officer’s voice was soft and calm as he said this, however, what Jiang Han heard wasn’t any different from the rumbling of thunder, everything before him turned into a hazy blur, barely able to keep himself from falling.

His thoughts were a mess, Jiang Han didn’t even remember how he manage to walked out of the office.

To begin with, he was a dignified Sunan Medical University graduate. To be assigned to Jiangsu city’s 8th Rank Medical Hospital for his residency already made him incredibly unhappy, Jiang Han figured that with his capabilities, he would be able to progress rapidly, culminating with a beautiful evaluation on his medical residency certification. He would then apply for a reasonable position at the Provincial Hospital, then go on to accomplish some extraordinary performance and feats, climbing up the ladder a step at a time……

However, he was crudely awaken to reality before he had the chance to enjoy the fruits of his beautiful dream.

He was only a resident doctor here, the hospital did not even provide him with a room at the dormitory. In such a huge hospital, other than taking off his medical coat, it was ridiculous that he didn’t even have anything that he could take away with him.

As he hurled his coat on to the office floor, it indicated that his medical training here had come to an end, his residency was a complete failure. This was the most severe punishment for a graduate like him, it was no different than being sentenced to the death penalty.

Even with his ambitious aspirations, Jiang Han was only an ordinary graduate among many others. Although his academic records was surprisingly amazing, it could not change the fact that he had failed his residency, and all that academic achievement amount to nothing in face of the Chief Medical Officer’s “You are fired”.

Standing in the front of the hospital, he felt like the world outside was completely grey, aimlessly loss without any direction for the future. As he walked away, he pause for a brief moment to turn around and look at the words on the top of the hospital building, “For the people”, a frown appear on the corners of his mouth.

“Regrets? Bitterness? Dissatisfaction? ……” These words continuously resounded in his heart

Generally a Sunan Medical University graduates would have their residency at the Provincial Hospital, only a small minority would be assigned to a city hospital, even less would be sent to such an inferior 8th rank Hospital. What was even more puzzling was that, Jiang Han’s academic grades were outstanding, with numerous achievements under his belt. However, such an outstanding medical talent was not acknowledge and appreciated, this made him quite frustrated.

But what could he do about it, the opportunities for a medical graduate’s residency was limited. Most of the hospitals would not accept them, and even if they did, forget about receiving a salary, they would most likely have to fork out their own money for the various hospital bills.

Jiang Han naturally knew about these challenges, however he felt that he was different from other ordinary students that normally followed the general rules and expectations. He had confidence in his own abilities and he thought that he was an exception. It wasn’t until he received his residency termination notice that he realised, that his “exception” was merely his one sided thoughts. Even if he was an “exception” to the norm, then despite his misgivings this time, his residency would eventual be terminated anyway.

Jiang Han’s family was impoverished, and because he didn’t give the hospital sufficient “sincerity”, he was not even provided with a dormitory room. Jiang Han could only clench his teeth and withhold from breaking the news to his parents. Nevertheless, the monthly living expenses that his parents gave him was barely enough for him to rent a room.

Regardless of the current situation, he still had to live. He was compelled to consider his livelihood, and thus he had no choice but to find a job. Even at this point in his life, he couldn’t help but feel grateful for his parents, he had an unexplainable natural affinity with people, which aid him in finding a job. Every day after working hours, he would be responsible for the sanitation of the various offices and departments.

Just like this, Jiang Han was somehow able to make ends meet, and thus it wasn’t the end of his life.

A few days ago at work, he was moping the floors of the paediatrics department. Just as the sky began to turned dark, and while the night lights have yet to turned on, he notice that at a dimly lit corner, there was a middle age woman crying with her child cradled on her arms.

“Auntie, is there anything I can do for you?” Jiang Han dropped what he was doing and squated down right next to the woman.

The woman just weep softly, with one of her hand repeatedly wiping the tears off her face.

Even though he was ignored, Jiang Han wasn’t vex. He persistently and gently ask, “Auntie, why don’t you try explaining the problem to me, perhaps I could be of some assistance.”

As the woman heard this, she slowly raised her head and looked at Jiang Han, this boy seemed ordinary and unremarkable, and yet when he spoke, she felt a sense of comfort. Perhaps when one is faced with overwhelming despair and hopelessness, even a little bit of warmth could bring some peace of mind.

With this the woman told Jiang Han, that her child has contracted Sepsis (blood poisoning), and that she and her child has been admitted into the hospital for half a month already. The medical expenses was more than a thousand yuan every day. Her family was poor, all of her savings were exhausted, and that she was all alone here in the city to seek medical assistance for her child.

She had already seek out all the people that was willing to lend her money, and right now she was heavily in debt because of all the medical expenses. Furthermore, today the hospital gave her an ultimatum, if she was unable to continually afford the expenses tomorrow then her child will no longer receive treatment.

As Jiang Han heard this, he felt exasperated. As a doctor they should be compassionate, and therefore such actions were unwarranted. Moreover, a child was diagnose with Sepsis and that the treatment wasn’t complete. Should the child’s condition regress or relapse, the bacteria will gain immunity to the treatment, which is not only incredibly troublesome to deal with, it was possibly fatal.

Perhaps it was because they were in the same boat, since Jiang Han was here alone, without any friends or family, he was able to empathise with the woman. Furthermore, as a doctor, even though he was just doing his residency, he could not ignore a patient’s plight.

He immediately began to delve in-depth into the child’s medical condition. According to the medical records, the child had an Enterococcus Faecalis (type of bacteria) infection. A sensitivity analysis conducted on the cultured sample of bacteria showed that the coccus (round shaped bacteria) is the least resistant to the drug Gentamicin followed by a close second, Vancomycin.

“That’s weird, Gentamicin only cost a few cents per dose, so how is it possible that the daily expenses accrued are more than a thousand yuan?” with the medical record in his hand, Jiang Han couldn’t help but frown. No matter how one tried to justify this, it would still make no sense.

“There’s certainly something odd going on.” In the end Jiang Han placed the report down as he came to a conclusion.

In order to uncover and clarify the crux of the matter, Jiang Han immediately meticulously went through the pharmacy’s medication records to find that the hospital chose to administer the second choice drug, Vancomycin.

“I understand now.” Jiang Han left the pharmacy and walked to one of the clinic where the woman with her child was waiting.

The woman got excited at the sight of Jiang Han, she hurriedly ask him what he had discovered. Jiang Han looked at the woman and smiled, “ Auntie Lee, don’t worry, tomorrow morning before 8 just come over here, and bring all your medical bills with you.”

The woman was still a little uneasy, she didn’t know whether this young man was reliable, however she was at the end of her ropes, without any other option she could only believe that this was the Heaven’s way of helping her.

After repeatedly thanking him, the woman carried her child and left, leaving Jiang Han all alone in the clinic.

“Hmph, to do such a thing, it is unforgivable.” Jiang Han let out a grunt, then proceed to take pictures of all the records before finally leaving the area.

He was certainly aware of these kinds of situations, and when he saw the prescribed drug Vancomycin, he was already able to vaguely understand the situation.

Vancomycin’s price was 120 yuan a dose, and every time a doctor prescribes a dose of Vancomycin, he would receive 30 yuan in commission. According to the child’s daily treatment  of 6 doses, the commission alone would amount to 180 yuan a day. It is therefore not surprising that the attending physician would be reluctant to switch to an alternative drug. Since no one would turn down such a relatively easy source of additional income.

The very next day, Jiang Han personally accompanied the mother and child to the Chief Physician’s office to report on the situation and to present all the acquired evidence. In the end, the hospital was forced to switch the medication for the patient, and because of this, the head of the paediatric department and Vancomycin’s drug representative could not avoid reparations, which in turn caused them to loathe Jiang Han.

Shortly later, the pediatric’s head doctor and the drug representative jointly sought out other department heads to lodge a complaint against Jiang Han, citing his lack of leadership, arrogance and inciting conflict between doctor and patient. The hospital naturally did not have any qualms about dismissing a resident doctor and was quick to agree on the matter.

“Was it possible that I’ve made a mistake?”

“Regret? Bitterness?  ……..”

“I have no regrets!” Jiang Han affirmed and walked out of the hospital.