Huoshenshan Hospital () was an emergency specialty

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

, built between 23 January and 2 February 2020, in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

in China. The facility is located near Zhiyin Lake () in the Caidian District,

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

, China, next to the Wuhan Workers' Sanatorium (), and is designed to treat people with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. The hospital has run under the jurisdiction and management of the People's Liberation Army since its completion. A second field hospital,

Leishenshan Hospital Leishenshan Hospital () was an emergency specialty field hospital built in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The facility is located at No.3 Parking Lot of the Athletes Village in Jiangxia District, Wuhan, Hubei. Stage one of construction was ...

, using the same design, opened on 8 February, A further sixteen other temporary treatment facilities were set up in converted buildings in Wuhan for isolation and treatment of COVID-19 cases. Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals were closed on 15 April after community transmission stopped in China, almost a month after the other temporary facilities had been closed.

Etymology

The name "Huoshen" () named after

Zhurong Zhurong (), also known as Chongli (), is an important personage in Chinese mythology and Chinese folk religion. According to the '' Huainanzi'' and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. Th ...

, an important personage in

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...

and

Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...

who was known as ancestors of the Chu people, and the

Yan Emperor The Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese ruler in pre-dynastic times. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (''Yángtóu Shān'') just north of Baoji in Shaanxi Province as his homeland and ...

, a legendary ancient Chinese ruler in pre-dynastic times who was also known as ancestors of the Chinese people. The name "Huo" () is also related to the concept of

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

() in '' wuxing'' (). In

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

, the

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

element () governs the lung (). As fire overcomes metal (), the name conveys the hope that the hospital will overcome the respiratory infection caused by

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

that troubles the lung.

History

Construction of the hospital began on the evening of 23 January 2020 with a scheduled completion of construction on 2 February. In the initial stage, dozens of excavators, bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment prepared the ground. This was followed by the laying down of several layers of matting and concrete. The omnibus construction team was understaffed at the beginning, with many workers having to work two shifts, 12 hours per day. More workers were added, however, culminating with up to 7,000 people working around the clock in three shifts. A worker stated that they started to work at 7 a.m. and usually finished working in the night; sometimes they had to work overtime until 12 a.m. The meals were delivered to the gate of the site by construction managers, then distributed to workers by their supervisors; workers usually immediately returned to work after finishing the meals in the site. In terms of income, most of the workers earned over 10,000 Yuan

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

for their 8-day work on the site. However, since they were quarantined for 14 days after they returned home, and taking into account the time cost to Wuhan and back, the average monthly income was not much higher than that of normal construction workers, who usually get 8–9,000 RMB per month. The last brick was placed on 2 February 2020. That day the People's Liberation Army (PLA)

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

began airlifting medical personnel and supplies to Wuhan for the hospital opening, and the hospital proper was handed over to the PLA. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan inspected the facility and equipment of the hospital on that day. The very next day, 3 February 2020, the hospital began accepting patients. The first person entered at 10:00 a.m. However, according to workers on the site, only Zone 1 was open for accepting patients on February 3, while Zone 2, Zone 3 and Zone 4 were not opened until February 7. State broadcaster China Media Group has hosted the streams from the construction of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospital, which together had an average of around 18 million concurrent views on 28 January. The hospital was closed and sealed on 15 April, pending possible reopening in the event of a resurgence of cases.

Design

The hospital is modeled after the , which was built in the suburbs of Beijing in six days for the 2003 SARS epidemic. Huoshenshan Hospital is built nearby Zhiyin Lake. It accommodates 1,000 beds which spans over an area of around 60,000 m² and consists of 2 floors. It has 30

intensive care units 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...

, medical equipment rooms, and quarantine wards. The hospital was built with

prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term ...

units for fast construction and installation works. The units were laid on pillars to keep them off the ground. Each unit is about 10 m² and fitted with two

beds A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many be ...

. Each room is negatively pressurized to prevent airborne microorganisms from spreading out of the hospital. It also has specialized

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Ventilator, a m ...

systems and double-sided cabinets that connect each patient room to hallways, which allows the hospital staff to deliver supplies without the need to enter each patient room. The hospital is linked by a video system to PLA General Hospital in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Operation

The hospital was operated by 1,400 medical personnel sent by the People's Liberation Army, which consisted of 950 people from hospitals affiliated to Joint Logistics Support Force of Central Military Commission and 450 people from medical universities of PLA who were sent to Wuhan earlier. The hospital also used medical robots in its daily operation to deliver medicines and carry test samples. According to the reports by

Caixin Caixin Media () is a Chinese news website based in Beijing known for investigative journalism. Caixin means "New Fortune" in Chinese. Structure The founder and publisher is Hu Shuli, a former Knight Fellow in journalism at Stanford Universi ...

, there were 63 workers from Xiangtan, Hunan who came to help with the construction. They all returned to Xiangtan and were being quarantined by the local authorities on February 7 after the construction was completed. Two people were confirmed to have COVID-19 among those workers as of February 14. Although the source of their infection is not confirmed yet, they believed they were being infected on the construction site, especially after February 3 when Zone 1 was opened while there was a shortage in supply of masks for construction workers. Those two workers also claimed that some workers had coughs while working.

References

External links