Two nurses working in Wuhan asked foreign medical doctors to come to China for help, in a letter published in the prestigious British medical journal Lancet.

"We ask nurses and health workers from all over the world to come to China right now to help us in this battle," Zeng Yingchun and Zhen Yan wrote in the letter posted on Lancet's website on. 2/24.

The two were originally working at hospitals in Guangdong province. They were sent to Wuhan on January 24 to work in the quarantine area. "The conditions and working environment in Wuhan are tougher and harsher than we imagined," they wrote.

Two nurses described the hospital seriously lacking supplies such as N95 masks, face shields, glasses, shirts, gloves. Due to constant hand washing, several colleagues had a rash. Some people have sores on their ears and forehead due to wearing a mask too much. . To save time wearing protective clothing, health workers avoid eating and drinking for two hours before entering the isolation area. Some nurses faint due to hypoglycemia and hypoxia.

"Not only are we exhausted, we are mentally exhausted. Although we are professional nurses, we are just human. Like everyone else, we feel helpless, worried and scared. "they wrote. "Experienced nurses sometimes encourage their colleagues and try to relieve our worries. But even experienced nurses sometimes shed tears, because we don't know if we still need to be here. how long and we are the highest risk group for nCoV infection ".

Mainland China recorded more than 78,000 nCoV infections and more than 2,700 deaths, most concentrated in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province. Hospitals in Wuhan are overburdened, images of exhausted doctors are frequently shared on social networks. An official of China's National Health Commission said on February 24 that more than 3,000 Chinese health workers were infected with nCoV, at least 9 died.

DXY, China's popular online platform for health information, posted an article about the letter on Lancet on the morning of February 26. The post led to much controversy on Weibo but it was deleted on the afternoon of February 26. It is unclear why nurses begged for help through the magazine. Neither the nurse nor the magazine responded to the request for comment.

Although China has asked other countries to provide medical supplies, they do not ask for help from foreign medical staff.

A letter published on February 26 in the Southern Metropolis Daily, representing the medical team sent by Guangdong Province to support Wuhan, rejected the information outlined in the Lancet letter. They said the two nurses were not part of their medical staff and their descriptions were incorrect.

Although the medical team faced a number of challenges during the first days of arriving at Wuhan Hankou Hospital, conditions have now improved, adequate supplies and staff have a reasonable schedule, of the Guangdong provincial medical team.

Reuters could not contact the Guangdong Health Commission for comment. The National Health Committee of China also did not respond to requests for comment.