Chapter 106 - Money is the best motivator! (1/2)

Pulmonologist Zhu Qianqian's only goal in life was to make lots and lots of money. Because of this, she was ridiculously miserly. In other departments, as long as the rotation doctors properly worked hard, the teaching doctor would at least reward them with small amounts of money. The teaching doctor paying for meals and drinks would be considered commonplace. Everyone knew that the new intern doctors had to work hard while receiving only meager salaries. The teaching doctors paying for the intern doctors' food and drink equaled their recognition and acceptance of the intern doctors.

Zhu Qianqian didn't care about any of this at all. She felt that it was only natural for the rotation doctors to have to work their hardest for very little in return. She believed that it was their fault for not having medical licenses!

Although Zhang Fan was one of the few rotation doctors who had a medical license, he didn't mind any of this. He felt that in any profession, one should abide by the profession's social norms (unless you were the big boss who could set the social norms yourself).

There were many Chinese southerners who came all the way out to western China to do business in Chasu City. There was an especially high number of Chinese from W Province, Henan Province, or Sichuan Province here in the border province. The W Province people typically had high-class businesses, such as transporting rare resources from the border province back to inland China, where the resources would be processed and made into goods that were sold back in the border province.

Henan people had monopolized the food sales and recycling industries in the border province. As long as one Henan person was able to successfully start a business here, it would take only a few years for an entire village of Henan people to slowly come over. They also all worked together in an especially unified manner. There were many of them who didn't even know how to speak Mandarin Chinese 1 , although they were extremely proficient in the Henan dialect.

The Sichuan people were experts in opening up all sorts of restaurants, including hot pot, regular fried dishes, fast food, and so on. Their restaurants's food was considered far more delicious than the locals' restaurants'. They were also really hardworking, and would often start working early in the morning. Meanwhile, the locals preferred to sleep in until late in the morning. By that time, the Sichuan restaurants had already done a lot of business.

China was constantly improving as a country. Without regards to other industries, China's improvements in the medical field were quite evident. In every city, large new buildings were being constructed for hospitals every day. The most advanced medical equipment was also constantly being purchased.

Additionally, due to the previous SARS outbreak incident of China, the Chinese government began to greatly support infectious diseases hospitals. Previously, regular hospitals would have to accept patients with any type of infectious disease, but that was no longer allowed ever since the SARS incident. Any infectious disease that the Chinese government designated as Class A or Class B would have to be reported to the government, and the patient could only be treated at a specially designated infectious diseases hospital. [TL/N: see for China's classification of infectious diseases influenced by the SARS outbreak of 2003.]

On Friday night, Zhu Qianqian and Zhang Fan were working the night shift together when a Chinese southerner from W Province came to the respiratory department for treatment. This man was a business owner. Zhu Qianqian especially loved receiving patients who came in after the regular day shift because nobody would fight over such patients with her, nor would the director tell her that she had too many patients and that she had to give the patient to another fellow doctor, as the director didn't work night shifts.

”Hello, doctor. I've been feeling rather hot recently, and I also keep coughing. My phlegm also sometimes contains blood.”

This southerner spoke heavily accented Mandarin Chinese. It was somewhat difficult to understand his words.

”Let me listen to your respiratory sounds. Please have a seat. Rest assured, since you're at a hospital, we doctors will help you with your illness. Please raise your shirt.” This southerner wore high-class clothing. Everything he had, including his wallet, was from a well-known name brand. Zhu Qianqian's eyes were basically sparkling. This was her favorite type of patient: someone who didn't have local medical insurance and was also really rich. This meant that the patient would choose the most expensive and best medical services.

However, Zhu Qianqian became slightly hesitant after she finished listening to the man's respiratory sounds. She then asked in detail about his medical problems, which only made her more hesitant when she heard the results. The patient had low fevers, fatigue, and a poor appetite. She also tapped on the patient's chest and could hear from the sounds that he was suffering from pleural effusion. With her checkup and the man's self-identified medical problems, it became quite obvious to Zhu Qianqian just what illness this man suffered from.

It seemed apparent that this southerner also knew quite well himself that he was suffering from a Class B infectious disease, one which was supposed to be reported to the government and mandated that he go to an infectious diseases hospital. He was quite well accustomed to doctors' social customs as he instantly handed a red packet to Zhu Qianqian along with giving Zhang Fan two boxes of smokes. Zhang Fan tried to refuse, but Zhu Qianqian stuffed the smokes into Zhang Fan's pocket.

”Just take these smokes,” Zhu Qianqian told him. ”Even if you're not a smoker, you can always give them away to someone else to make friends with them!” She then squeezed the red packet before telling the southerner, ”You probably realize already that your disease is difficult to deal with, really difficult. It's quite troublesome for me.”

What this actually meant was that Zhu Qianqian felt that she hadn't received enough money from the red packet. She could tell from feeling through the envelope that there had been approximately 500 yuan inside. She would be taking quite a risk by accepting this patient, and since this patient obviously seemed to be rich, Zhu Qianqian really wanted to take as much as she could from him.

”Haha, rest assured, I'll properly thank you again after I fully recover.” The man brought out another red packet and handed it to Zhu Qianqian. He understood the Chinese medical society's unwritten customs quite well. Since Zhang Fan was only an intern doctor in the respiratory department, he only gave him two boxes of smokes, and focused most of the bribes only on Zhu Qianqian.

”Alright then. Since that's the case, I'll accept you as a patient, especially because you're an outsider who's probably unfamiliar with the other hospitals in Chasu City. However, you have to stay in a private, individual room, and your treatment fee will be rather expensive. Do you have medical insurance?”

”Yes, but it only works for my home province. I won't be able to use it here!”