Jiang Yanyong, doctor who exposed Beijing’s SARS secrecy, dies

doctor Jiang Yang Yongknown for exposing the secrecy in 2003 Beijing before the epidemic of acute and severe respiratory syndrome (SARSin its English acronym), which has claimed the lives of more than 774 people worldwide, died last Saturday at the age of 91, according to the Hong Kong press.

Jiang, who was born in 1931 in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, worked for many years at the Beijing Military General Hospital, which is highly regarded as a medical center for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“Jiang passed away at the main military hospital after a long illness on Saturday afternoon. The ceremony will take place at the hospital on Wednesday,” the statement said. Hong Kong Radio and Television (RTHC).

In April 2003, Jiang was baptized as “Hero SARS” after condemning that the medical center where he worked had patients whose cases were covered up by the government, a claim that was initially refuted by Beijing but acknowledged a few days later.

Jiang achieved international fame after revealing that military hospitals in Beijing They secretly treated hundreds of patients, while the government still estimated the number of casualties at the time at around 30.

As a result of their complaints, the Chinese government acknowledged the serious situation with the epidemic, which allowed it to activate additional disease control measures and ultimately averted more victims of the virus, which has caused nearly 800 deaths worldwide.

The scandal also led to the dismissal of China’s health minister and the mayor of China. Beijing.

A year later, Jiang asked the Chinese government to acknowledge the “mistake” of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

In that letter Jiang Yang Yong emphasized that “the new leaders of the Communist Party should reconsider the events of June 4”, alluding to the night in 1989 when, in the absence of official figures, hundreds or perhaps thousands of pro-democracy students in China were killed by tanks and soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.

The doctor was detained for seven weeks for publishing a letter condemned in 2004 by human rights groups and subjected to intense “training sessions” – a euphemism that alludes to the days of ideological re-education.

Jiang’s wife Hua Zhongweia former researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences, was also detained while on her way to the US Embassy to obtain a visa, but was released two weeks later.

They consider him a “hero”

This Wednesday, several netizens recalled Jiang’s figure on social media, calling him a “hero” and criticizing the official Chinese press for failing to mention his death.

When Jiang Yang Yong remembered in 2019 that Dr. Li Wenliangwho in December was reprimanded by the Wuhan police after he warned his colleagues that a group of patients with symptoms of SARS were in the hospital where he worked.

Lee, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, was reprimanded for “spreading rumours” and was forced to sign a letter admitting his “mistake”.

He later contracted the novel coronavirus. SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19, and died, sparking a wave of praise and criticism on Chinese social media for the actions of the authorities trying to silence him. (EFE)