Early communication between Irish, Chinese doctors crucial for saving Irish lives: expert

DUBLIN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Early communication between Irish and Chinese doctors was crucial for positively shaping Ireland's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and saving Irish lives, said an Irish expert.

Paul O'Brien, who has an academic background in genetics, food science and medicine, and has worked as a trade policy and regulatory analyst on China for the last decade, made these remarks in a bylined article published Saturday on The Journal.ie, one of the most read news websites in Ireland.

In the article "How Ireland established links with China to secure Covid-19 medical support," O'Brien recalled the first China-Ireland COVID-19 Emergency Conference which was held virtually in early March 2020.

Participants from the Chinese side were frontline ICU doctors from Wuhan and experts in medicine, infectious disease, pulmonology and public health from the second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, said O'Brien.

"All experts (were) taking time out from their own fight at ground-zero out, to arm Ireland, our doctors, and our healthcare system with vital knowledge," he wrote, adding that such knowledge would save lives by positively shaping the Irish national public health strategy.

Much of the advice offered by the Chinese experts at the conference "predated European guidelines by several months" and "ultimately became incorporated into the Irish Covid management response several months later," he noted.

The article also recalled how promptly the Chinese side had responded to the request of the Irish side for its much-needed COVID-19 testing equipment in the early stage of the pandemic.

"Robust and efficient testing capacities and capabilities form the bedrock upon which all countries' Covid-19 response strategy must be built. Without this foundational element everything else fails," said O'Brien in the article.

He said it is important and necessary to enhance global cooperation, support multilateralism and promote effective communication between countries when a pandemic emerges, so that the cultural, social, and economic barriers that stymie an efficient global response to infectious disease can be dissolved.

O'Brien has spent over a decade working and travelling in Asia including China. He helped organize the virtual emergency conference and procure coronavirus testing equipment.