Seventy-four years of arduous journey, through wind and rain

Seventy-four years of arduous journey, through wind and rain. Guangdong Provincial Second People's Hospital (Guangdong Emergency Hospital) lies by the southern bank of the Pearl River, adjacent to Guangzhou's new urban central axis, and just steps away from Panyu—the hub of Guangzhou's artificial intelligence and next-generation information technology giants. Having endured the Liaoshen Campaign, Xianggan Campaign, and Guangdong Campaign; the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea; the August 6th Sea Battle; and the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, the hospital has stood firm in the fight against SARS and the COVID-19 pandemic, with medical staff donning their white coats and bravely charging forward. Throughout its history, it has shared the same breath and fate with the Chinese nation. South of the Five Ridges, the region stands unique in spirit and vigor. In 1947, the Field Hospital of the 7th Column of the Northeast Democratic United Army was established. The hospital marched southward with the Fourth Field Army through war-torn landscapes, eventually settling in Guangzhou. In 1998, the hospital underwent collective demobilization, transitioning from PLA No. 177 Hospital to Guangdong Provincial No. 177 Hospital. After years of twists and turns, it steadily advanced. In 2004, riding the wave of major victory in the fight against SARS, the Guangdong Provincial Government decided to transfer the hospital under direct management of the Guangdong Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, renaming it Guangdong Second People’s Hospital—the first provincial-level emergency hospital in China, Guangdong Emergency Hospital, was born! As a hospital imbued with red revolutionary heritage, it has always upheld the fine traditions and military ethos of the armed forces, serving the people wholeheartedly. In 2011, our medical rescue team was designated by the Ministry of Health as one of six national-level emergency medical response teams, marking a new chapter in the hospital's rapid and high-quality development. In 2013, Ye Xuanping personally inscribed the hospital’s name: "Guangdong Second People’s Hospital, Guangdong Emergency Hospital." In 2014, the Guangdong Institute of Traditional Medicine and Sports Injury Rehabilitation, a public institution managed by Guangdong Second People’s Hospital, was officially established, heralding the hospital’s call for scientific and technological strength. Also in 2014, Guangdong Network Hospital—the nation’s first online hospital—was completed. In 2015, we successively established the Guangdong Second People’s Hospital Yangshan Hospital Group and Guangdong Second People’s Hospital Zhuhai Hospital. In 2017, we reached a third milestone in the hospital’s history, boldly stepping into a new era: at the 70th World Health Assembly, our emergency medical team received a flag from the World Health Organization, officially becoming China’s International Emergency Medical Team. This signifies that our hospital now looks globally, steps onto the world stage, and will carry forward national missions, spreading righteousness and compassion. In 2020, the hospital ascended to a new level by fully taking over and managing the Civil Aviation Guangzhou Hospital as its civil aviation campus. With a total land area of approximately 60 mu, according to the province-wide health planning, this campus will be developed into a world-class Bay Area Trauma Center and a high-level emergency medical treatment center, covering 220,000 square meters with 1,500 beds. In 2021, our hospital was selected as a high-level hospital construction unit in Guangdong Province. We will drive discipline development through high-level talent and fully advance the strategies of science and technology-driven hospital development and talent-driven hospital development. As a new-model hospital leading healthcare reform, our hospital is steadily moving forward toward the development direction of "one body with two campuses and two branch hospitals." In 2003, during the fight against SARS, our hospital established a SARS ward within just 17 hours. We admitted a total of 215 suspected cases and confirmed 86 cases, with zero patient deaths due to SARS, zero cross-infections among patients, and zero infections among medical staff. The hospital was honored as a "National Advanced Collective in the Fight Against SARS" and received other accolades. In 2020, as the main front line for Guangdong Province’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, our hospital conducted operations on five fronts: hospital treatment, supporting Hubei, relocating to the airport, assisting Beijing, and safeguarding Hong Kong, achieving another "three zeros" record—zero progression to severe cases, zero deaths, and zero hospital-acquired infections. We developed and summarized a series of innovative achievements and advanced practices, including the "Infection Control Supervisor System," "Two Early, Three Standardization, Three Strictness System," "One Person, One Strategy," "Zoning, Typing, Grading Management," "Production Resumption and Epidemic Prevention Guarantee," "Morning Inspection System for Fever Clinics," and "Post-recovery Follow-up Outpatient Services," which have been promoted nationwide. The infection control supervisor system, pioneered by our hospital, was specifically commended by Vice Premier Sun Chunlan of the State Council during an on-site inspection. An extraordinary journey has shaped an exceptional hospital, much like the mighty Pearl River, continuously gathering tributaries and growing ever more majestic. Currently, the hospital comprises 79 departments and 53 specialties, with 2,300 beds already open (expanding to 4,000 beds in the near future). The Panyu campus features approximately 150,000 square meters of medical facilities and over 2,500 healthcare professionals. Nine specialties—trauma microsurgery, endoscopic surgery, rehabilitation medicine (specializing in shoulder, neck, back, and leg pain), obstetrics, neonatology, general surgery, emergency medicine, infectious diseases, and cardiothoracic surgery—are recognized as provincial key disciplines. The hospital has established four research platforms: medical artificial intelligence, emergency medicine, traditional medicine combined with sports injury rehabilitation, and clinical epidemiology. It has meticulously developed five major specialty clusters: trauma surgery, endoscopic surgery, women’s and children’s reproductive medicine, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and precision oncology. Specialized services include correction of chest deformities, ankylosing spondylitis, hand microsurgery, and trigeminal neuralgia. A clinical treatment-focused cluster centered on trauma surgery, integrating hand surgery, burn surgery, orthopedics, and medical aesthetics and rehabilitation, is united by disease-based care. A clinical research-oriented cluster, built around laparoscopic techniques in general surgery, urology, and gynecology, is linked by specialized technical expertise. A medical-plus-service cluster, anchored in comprehensive patient flow management, includes the Reproductive Medicine Center, prenatal diagnosis, gynecology, obstetrics, neonatology, and postpartum body shaping. A tumor care cluster, led by radiotherapy and unified through integrated treatment, encompasses Oncology Department I, Oncology Department II, and the Radiotherapy Center. The hospital is fully committed to building strength in key specialties such as the Cerebrovascular Disease Center, Rheumatology, Immunology and Endocrinology, Day Surgery Center, Chest Pain Center, and Traditional Medicine & Sports Injury Rehabilitation Center. It also nurtures distinctive specialties and conditions, including obesity-related diabetes in the Endocrinology Department, trigeminal neuralgia in Neurosurgery, and Chen-style manual therapy for shoulder, neck, back, and leg pain in traditional medicine. Notably, the Reproductive Medicine Center maintains a long-term clinical pregnancy rate exceeding 65% for IVF treatments, establishing itself as a top-tier infertility and assisted reproduction center in South China with significant regional influence. As one of Guangdong Province's first doctoral workstations, a teaching hospital for higher medical colleges in Guangdong, a research base for the Sun Yat-sen University postdoctoral program, and an affiliated non-direct hospital of Southern Medical University, Jinan University, and Nanfang University, our hospital currently has 2 recipients of the National Outstanding Youth Fund, 88 doctoral and master’s thesis supervisors, 30 leaders and deputy leaders of national and provincial academic associations, 488 senior professionals, and 781 doctors and masters. Over 500 professors and associate professors carry forward the medical tradition, while more than 2,500 medical staff shine like blossoming spring flowers. As a WHO International Emergency Medical Team and China’s first provincial-level emergency medical institution, we have bravely taken up our historical mission, leading the development of public health emergency response. In May 2015, our hospital dispatched China’s sole medical team to Malaysia as part of the government’s emergency medical response unit, successfully completing the fourth disaster relief exercise under the ASEAN Regional Forum, earning high commendation from State Councilor Wang Yong and the National Health Commission. On May 26, 2017, at the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. Margaret Chan, then Director-General of the World Health Organization, personally presented our hospital with the International Emergency Medical Team flag and certificate. The hospital embraces the light of technology to build a convenient path for patients seeking medical care. It has established China's first online hospital, the country's first smart hospital, and the nation's first comprehensive health management platform. On March 1, 2021, our hospital partnered with Huawei to launch China's first full-scenario intelligent hospital, achieving a breakthrough from zero to one in full-scenario intelligence and ushering in a new era of smart hospital development. In 2019, our hospital successfully conducted Guangdong Province’s first end-to-end bidirectional 5G+4K remote surgery live broadcast, marking the first official application of 5G in medical practice in Guangdong and bringing innovative changes to telemedicine. Digital intelligent wards enable wireless internet access, health consultations, diagnosis and treatment, medication information lookup, remote visiting, and viewing of test and examination results. The entire hospital has built an "Internet + healthcare" platform, enabling self-service and internet-based operations for registration, payment, admission, and health record management, establishing personalized online health records and delivering a brand-new patient experience. In 2016, Professor Tian Junzhang led his research team in using novel imaging technology to globally identify the root cause of insomnia: the relationship between white matter tracts and abnormal white matter integrity in insomniacs and the duration of insomnia and related clinical symptoms. Enhancing the medical environment, optimizing healthcare services, and strengthening professional ethics and medical conduct have propelled our hospital's development to new heights, earning heartfelt care from leaders at all levels and widespread recognition from the public. Leaders including Ye Xuanping and Hua Jianmin, as well as provincial officials such as Huang Huahua, Yin Li, Wang Peian, Lei Haichao, Lin Shaochun, Zhang Guangjun, Xu Shaohua, Qin Weizhong, Li Hongjun, Deng Haiguang, Wen Guohui, Lei Yulan, Yao Zhibin, have successively visited our hospital for inspections. Since 2003, our hospital has received numerous honors, including "National Advanced Collective in the Fight Against SARS," "National Advanced Collective in the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Efforts within the Health Sector," "Guangdong Provincial Model Grassroots Party Organization," "Guangdong Provincial Advanced Collective in the Fight Against COVID-19," "National May 1st Labor Medal," "National Outstanding Youth League Committee," "2011 National Hospital Innovation Award," "2019 National Innovative Hospital in Medical Service Improvement," "China’s Best Hospital Management Team – Starry Unity Award," "National Demonstration Unit for Energy-Saving Public Institutions," and "Guangdong Provincial Civilized Unit." We have cultivated national role models such as Wang Ling, Xing Rui, Huang Dong, Wang Wenlin, and Sun Ruilin, and gathered an outstanding team of experts, including world-renowned embryologist, National Outstanding Young Scientist, and Chief Scientist of the 973 Program, Professor Sun Qingyuan, as well as leading figures in Guangdong’s medical field: Ou Xianghong, Li Tianwang, Jiang Guihua, Luo Shengkang, Xiang Guoan, Gao Peng, He Jingjun, Ye Zebing, Wen Ju, Qin Chenghe, Meng Qiong, Wu Maosheng, Zhang Hui, Zhang Qing, and Li Guowei. Guangdong Provincial Second People’s Hospital draws inspiration from the vitality of Pearl River waters and the spirit of Yunshan Mountains, energizing progress and nurturing hope. As hospital leadership stands before the grand hospital sign, they feel the weight on their shoulders. With the sharp vision of a surgeon’s lancet and the miraculous healing touch capable of reviving life, they wield the axe of reform and development, launching a new round of bold advancement toward building a nationally renowned and top-tier institution in South China—embarking on another magnificent leap forward in history. Today is history; tomorrow will be glorious!