·
The Chinese Academy of
Engineering reported that 20 members have died in less than a month, compared
with an average annual death rate of 16
·
One doctor in Beijing
said academy members usually have privileged access to healthcare, but now
there are no beds available to treat them
Stephen Chen in Beijing
Published: 3:06pm, 6 Jan, 2023
Zhang Guocheng, a pioneer in China’s rare earth industry, was among the leading scientists to die recently. Photo: Baidu
More senior Chinese engineers and scientists have died in
less than a month than typically die in a year following the government’s decision
to lift Covid controls, a leading scientific body has said.
The Chinese Academy of Engineering said on its website that
20 members had died between December 15 and January 4.
This compares with an average of 16 deaths a year between
2017 and 2021 and 13 deaths in 2021.
The academy, China’s most prestigious engineering body, has more than 900 members who have been involved in the conception, design and construction of nearly all the country’s mega-projects, including the Three Gorges dam, high-speed rail network and the Tiangong space station.
It has not responded to requests for comment.
The youngest academy member to die was Ti Tianchu, 77, a
physicist who specialised in atomic clocks, while the oldest was 102-year-old
Zhang Jinzhe, who established China’s first paediatric surgery department at
Peking University Hospital in 1950.
Those who died recently include Xu Mi, chief engineer of
China’s fast nuclear reactor programme; Zhao Zisen, who developed China’s first
optical fibre; Zhang Guocheng, a founding engineer in China’s rare earth
industry; and Zhao Yinjun, a top national science and technology prizewinner
for his contribution to China’s laser weapons.
The academy did not provide a cause of death for any of
these members.
A doctor working at a major hospital in Beijing, who asked
not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the topic, said these academy
members usually received privileged medical treatment equivalent to that received
by deputy ministers in the central government.
But he said recently there were no beds available and they
would be lucky to find a space in the lobby.
The pandemic also caused a run on resources in the public
health system that delayed the treatment of other diseases, he added.
The academy recently announced the death of Xu Mi, a former chief engineer for China’s fast nuclear reactor programme. Photo: Baidu
The Chinese government has stopped
releasing the number of coronavirus infections after abruptly
abandoning its zero-Covid policy in early December.
It has also narrowed
the definition of Covid deaths to exclude all those with pre-existing
conditions, prompting the World Health Organization to warn that official
data is under-representing the number of deaths.
Zeng Guang, a former chief scientist at China’s Centre for
Disease Control, told an online conference on December 30 that he estimated
that more than 80 per cent of the population in Beijing, where most senior
scientists and engineers live, had been infected.
Other Chinese research organisations have reported similar
losses.
Tsinghua University, the nation’s top-ranked research
university for natural science, started trending on social media after it
started posting an unusually large number of obituaries on its campus network.
The sudden
death of pharmacologist Jiang Hualiang on December 24 in Shanghai also shocked
the nation because the 57-year-old, a member of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences, was leading some major drug development programmes, including
treatments for Covid-19.
Some younger Chinese academics have also died after becoming
infected.
Wang Teng, a 32 year old architect at Sichuan Architecture
Vocational Technology College, died on campus last month after developing a
high fever following a positive test, The Beijing News reported.
A Beijing-based physicist in his thirties told the Post that
he had been forced to return to work before he fully recovered because he was
working on a project with a deadline that “won’t wait”.
“Covid may have
damaged my health. From time to time I have to pause for a while to catch my
breath,” said the researcher, who tested positive in mid-December.
It is too early to estimate the overall impact of the
pandemic on China’s science and technology sector, according to the researcher
who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media
about the issue.
“Now our border is reopening. We can meet with colleagues from
around the world to generate new ideas again, and work closely on some exciting
projects,” he said.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3205736/top-engineers-and-scientists-dying-unprecedented-rate-china-after-lifting-covid-controls?module=lead_hero_story&pgtype=homepage
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