100 Stories2020 Efforts to Save Lives in Wuhan, China Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020, COVID-19 caused an unprecedented crisis around the world. Members of Asahi Kasei's local subsidiary in China went to great efforts for the sake of their colleagues, the company, and society ever since the beginning of the outbreak.

In early February 2020, when the infection began to spread rapidly, a large hospital was built in Wuhan in just 14 days to isolate and treat infected people, making headlines around the world. In fact, the Chinese government requested that Asahi Kasei Medical manufacture the urgently needed blood purification system (a device that can be used to treat acute renal failure and other conditions) that was used in this hospital.

Receiving this request from the government was a great honor. However, the shipment of medical equipment did not end there. We had to go to the hospital to install the equipment and provide instructions on how to use it. At the time, there was no established treatment regimen for patients with the disease, but still three employees of Asahi Kasei Medical Devices (Hangzhou) volunteered to go to the site to help with the treatment of severely ill patients.

After careful consideration of their social and humanitarian responsibilities as medical equipment manufacturers, Tetsuro Ashidate , president of Asahi Kasei Medical Devices (Hangzhou), and Shugo Sumiyoshi, president of Asahi Kasei Medical, made the difficult decision to dispatch these workers to the hospital.
It was a 10-hour drive from Shanghai to Wuhan, and they made the three of them took turns at the wheel, taking no breaks until they arrived. Upon arrival, the three members worked with the agency and hospital staff to install the equipment and educate the hospital staff in a short period of time—all of this in the midst of the rapidly changing situation.

One of the members commented, “I was eager to do what I could do to help in the area where the infection had spread. However, in order not to worry my family, I did not tell my parents when I left. I informed them after I arrived in Wuhan, instead,” they said. In the end, their parents were understanding and supportive. Upon completion, they immediately drove back to Shanghai and remained there for the two-week quarantine period at a government-designated hotel.

Many companies in China, including Asahi Kasei Medical Devices (Hangzhou), engaged in activities to actively coexist with local communities, such as donating masks to local communities and medical institutions, donating relief funds to the Red Cross, and establishing an environment and infrastructure for employees to support remote work. As of May 2022, Shanghai has been on lockdown for more than a month, and regulatory measures to contain COVID-19 have been re-enforced.