The Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain) Hospital, one of the emergency hospitals in Wuhan built in response to the novel coronavirus, was completed in 10 days and began to receive patients on Feb. 3.

Sun Yanfang (Photo/People's Daily Online)

The reason behind the project’s success, apart from the country’s infrastructure construction ability, is a special group of female workers.

Sun Yanfang, head of the epidemic prevention and control group of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. (CCTEB), is one of them. During the construction period, she could only rest for about 5 hours per day.

As there were a large number of workers at the construction site, epidemic prevention and control was a top priority, Sun said. She and seven other group members reminded construction workers to change masks every four hours. 25,000 masks were used at the construction site every day, according to Sun.

In addition, her team had to disinfect the construction site, the offices and living quarters three times a day, take construction workers’ temperatures three times a day and remind them to wash hands before meals.

Wang Xiaohong (Photo/People's Daily Online)

53-year-old Wang Xiaohong, an expert on steel structure at CCTEB, was the backbone of steel structure work at the hospital. She was responsible for coordination of drawings, technology, materials and the construction site. She has participated in more than 100 key engineering projects across the entire country in the past 30-plus years.

Feng Xin (Photo/People's Daily Online)

Feng Xin, a member of staff at the General Construction Company of CCTEB Group Co., Ltd., was responsible for coordination of personnel and canteens, as well as food purchases, to guarantee food supply for over 40,000 workers on site.

According to the General Construction Company of CCTEB Group Co., Ltd., 18 female workers contributed to the construction of the Huoshenshan Hospital.