By Yuan Hua
Editor's note: The author Senior Colonel Yuan Hua is the political commissar of Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, which is a military emergency specialty field hospital constructed within ten days in February of 2020, responding to the CONVID-19 outbreak, and still in operation on the frontline of fighting the disease.
BEIJING, April 9 -- The COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health emergency with the fastest spread, the widest infection range, and the most difficult prevention and control measures since the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). For the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), the battle against the pandemic is a test of its emergency response capability.
The outbreak is a test of the military capability of emergency preparedness management (EPM). Whether the PLA medical team to Hubei can effectively assist in the disease prevention and control is essentially a comprehensive test of the troops' combat readiness and training.
The outbreak is a test of the military capability of emergency delivery. The personnel and materials of the PLA medical team to Hubei arrived in Wuhan almost at the same time from different cities across China through emergency deliveries by military aircraft and high-speed rail. In particular, multi-type military transport aircraft were tested in actual combat situation during this emergency delivery mission.
The outbreak is a test of the joint support capability. Under orders, more than 1,400 military medics from different services and arms, quickly assembled to Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan. They were reassigned in a mixed manner according to the medical disciplines, devoted to work on the very next day of the arrival, and started treating the first batch of patients on the third day. The hospital soon entered normal operation.
The rapid integration of multiple arms and services, and the immediate entry into combat condition are the manifestation of the Chinese military’s new system's preliminary results of strengthening "joint operations, joint training and joint support."
