Christine On Coronavirus – A Medical Student’s Take

Being a fifth-grade medical student in the school of medicine at National Taiwan University, Christine Liang currently works as an intern at National Taiwan University Hospital.

She kindly agreed to answer our questions.

Have the recent clampdowns affected you? What particular annoyances have you felt?

It does affect me a little, but it doesn’t bring too much inconvenience. After the outbreak, I seldom go to public places. So I think the biggest annoyance will be temporarily stopping my swimming habit meaning I have to do some workouts at home instead.

Has Taiwan done a good job in its handling of the COVID 19 issue? What could Taiwan do better?

Taiwan has indeed done a great job in precautionary measures. While people praise the government for its swift actions, the calm reaction, and cautiousness of Taiwanese people is also amazing.

Therefore, I think the outbreak reflects how well-educated Taiwanese people are.

Meanwhile, Taiwan has become the role model of epidemic prevention in the COVID-19 crisis. So it is important for the Taiwan government to pass on knowledge acquired about the quarantine program, national healthcare system, and related technical assistance to other countries.

Moreover, scientists around the world have been engaging in research on the coronavirus. For example, Germany and Korea have successfully developed test kits for coronavirus and put them into practice.

So I think it is also necessary for our government to fund our own academic institutions to keep up with the trend (eg. developing test kits, medications, and vaccines) since Taiwan also experienced the SARS outbreak in 2003.

How are you spending your time of late – living as normal a life as possible or on edge because of the virus?

After the outbreak, I have been keeping adequate social distances, and avoiding gatherings and meetings.

Also, I perform hand hygiene more frequently and always wear a mask in public areas. Other than that, my life hasn’t changed a lot except going home straight after class.

In the past few weeks, I have had dinner with my family, gone through my study routine and done workouts at home.

In sum, I lead a pretty normal life, just doing the same thing in different places.

As a student from the department of medicine, do you learn about coronavirus or discuss the issue with classmates in class? And, do you have any long term concerns related to coronavirus?

Our hospital requests every student and employee to watch online courses about the diagnosis and management of coronavirus infection.

Sometimes my classmates and I discuss the latest discovery or treatment measures reported by medical journals.

In addition, we have followed lots of famous doctor’s Facebook accounts, so we can learn hands-on experiences from doctors around the world.

The pandemic will probably elevate to the community-transmitted stage.

However, I haven’t heard much information from the government about future measurements.

As a citizen, I would like to be informed of some active strategies.

Despite the advanced medical environment in Taiwan, just like other countries, the number of our negative pressure isolation rooms, medical staff, and medical equipment are all limited.

When we are confronted with the situation, do we have enough time, space, and money to deal with it? I think that is the question that needs to be answered.