Concerns Grow Over Wuhan Doctor Amid Call For Return to Work
Whistleblowing Wuhan doctor Ai Fen is
currently incommunicado, believed detained after giving media interviews about
her initial concerns over the coronavirus, according to an Australian media
report. "Just two weeks ago the head of Emergency at Wuhan Central Hospital went
public, saying authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the
world," flagship investigative show 60 Minutes Australia reported on
Sunday.
"She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown," the show reported, also tweeting photos of Ai. Soon after the show aired, Ai's account on the Twitter-like platform Weibo sent out a single, cryptic post with a photo taken from Wuhan's Jianghan Road. "A river. A bridge. A road. A clock chime," the post read, the first since March 16, when the account posted to thank everyone for their concern about Ai and to reassure them that she was back at work as usual.
Ai was earlier given a stern reprimand after sending information about the early stages of the outbreak to a group of doctors, she wrote in a now-deleted essay published in China's People (Renwu) magazine. Titled "The one who supplied the whistle," the article described how Ai had been silenced by her bosses after she took a photo of a patient's test results and circled the words "SARS coronavirus" in red. She alerted colleagues to several cases of the virus, and eight of them were summoned by police for sharing the information. Among them was opthalmologist Li Wenliang who later died of COVID-19.
RFA was unable to verify Ai's whereabouts independently. Detainees in police or other official custody have been known to have their social media accounts updated, either by themselves acting under orders from the authorities, or after police gain access to their devices. Concern over Ai's whereabouts is growing as the lockdown of Wuhan ended and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the eastern province of Zhejiang to call on people to return to work....
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/concerns-03302020150737.html"She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown," the show reported, also tweeting photos of Ai. Soon after the show aired, Ai's account on the Twitter-like platform Weibo sent out a single, cryptic post with a photo taken from Wuhan's Jianghan Road. "A river. A bridge. A road. A clock chime," the post read, the first since March 16, when the account posted to thank everyone for their concern about Ai and to reassure them that she was back at work as usual.
Ai was earlier given a stern reprimand after sending information about the early stages of the outbreak to a group of doctors, she wrote in a now-deleted essay published in China's People (Renwu) magazine. Titled "The one who supplied the whistle," the article described how Ai had been silenced by her bosses after she took a photo of a patient's test results and circled the words "SARS coronavirus" in red. She alerted colleagues to several cases of the virus, and eight of them were summoned by police for sharing the information. Among them was opthalmologist Li Wenliang who later died of COVID-19.
RFA was unable to verify Ai's whereabouts independently. Detainees in police or other official custody have been known to have their social media accounts updated, either by themselves acting under orders from the authorities, or after police gain access to their devices. Concern over Ai's whereabouts is growing as the lockdown of Wuhan ended and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the eastern province of Zhejiang to call on people to return to work....
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