FlyTitle: Telemedicine in China
The covid-19 epidemic has brought millions of new patients online. They are likely to stay there新冠疫情促使成百上千万病人上网求诊，这可能成为常态
WHEN SARS, a coronavirus, hit China in 2003 citizens hunkered down at home. This proved a blessing for some businesses. Chinese social media took off. So did e-commerce. Richard Liu, who ran a chain of consumer-electronics shops, shut all his brick-and-mortar stores and set up JD.com. The firm is now valued at $64bn.
当2003年由一种冠状病毒引发的非典疫情席卷中国时，人们宅在家中闭门不出。这对一些企业来说反倒是个福音。中国社交媒体乘势起飞。电子商务也大举兴起。当时经营数码产品连锁店的刘强东关掉了所有实体店铺，创办了京东。如今，该公司的市值已达640亿美元。
A novel coronavirus that has brought China to a halt this year is boosting another fledgling industry: telemedicine. As hospitals turn away patients with other ailments and many Chinese are confined to their homes or steer clear of clinics for fear of infection, millions are seeking treatment and advice on the internet. The government is egging them on.
今年一种新型冠状病毒让中国陷入停顿，这又在推动另一个正在起步的产业：远程医疗。随着医院停止接收其他疾病的患者，以及许多中国人在家自我隔离或担心去医院会感染病毒，成百上千万的人正在互联网上寻求治疗和建议。而政府也在鼓励这种做法。
Xin Lijun, boss of JD Health, says that his platform’s monthly consultations have grown tenfold since the outbreak, to 2m. Some 1.6m tuned in to a talk by a top cardiologist that the JD.com subsidiary live-streamed. Without the outbreak, the shift in consumer behaviour would have taken perhaps five years, reckons Mr Xin. Chen Qiaoshan of Analysys, a consultancy in Beijing, thinks that China’s online health-care market may near 200bn yuan ($29bn) this year, up from her pre-outbreak estimate of 158bn yuan.
京东健康的CEO辛利军表示，自疫情爆发以来，其平台的月问诊量已经增长了10倍，达到200万人次。这家京东子公司邀请一位顶尖心脏病专家做了一场网络直播讲座，吸引了约160万人收看。辛利军估计，若不是此次疫情爆发，这样的消费者行为转变可能还需要五年。北京咨询公司易观的陈乔山认为，今年中国线上医疗的市场规模可能接近2000亿元，疫情爆发前她的预测是1580亿元。
China’s telemedicine market—including consultations and drug sales—had been predicted to grow vigorously even before the latest epidemic. Ping An Good Doctor, a medical-services app run by a big insurer, claimed in September that over 300m had registered on it, equivalent to one in three internet users in China. Tianyancha, a data firm, counts over 1,000 home-grown telemedicine companies.
在这轮疫情爆发之前就已有预测认为中国的远程医疗市场（包括线上问诊和药品销售）将迎来强劲增长。大型保险公司平安运营的医疗服务应用“平安好医生”去年9月宣称注册用户已超三亿人，相当于中国网民总数的三分之一。根据数据公司天眼查的统计，中国本土远程医疗公司已超过1000家。
Until now, however, most of these firms have stuck to delivering drugs or, in Ping An’s case, booking appointments with specialists, whom Chinese patients favour over general practitioners, even if it means queuing for hours at a hospital. Prestigious “AAA” hospitals account for one in ten public institutions but receive half of all outpatients. And the many Chinese who believe in traditional medicine, with its injunction that a reliable diagnosis cannot be made without feeling the pulse, would not dream of accepting health advice by video link.
然而到目前为止，多数远程医疗公司的业务还仅限于送药上门，或者像平安好医生那样提供专科医生挂号。比起全科医生，中国的患者更偏爱专科医生，哪怕要在医院排上几个小时的队。声名显赫的三甲医院数量只占公立医疗机构的十分之一，却接诊了一半门诊病人。而对于很多相信中医的中国人来说，既然中医讲究靠把脉做出可靠诊断，他们不会想要通过视频来问诊。
Authorities, too, have been cautious. In many countries, including America, the world’s biggest telemedicine market, most insurers do not reimburse patients’ online expenses. Nor, in all but a few regions, does China’s national health-insurance scheme. Most Chinese online doctors are permitted only to handle repeat prescriptions and follow-up consultations, not make an initial diagnosis. A draft government policy from 2017 took “a negative tone” on internet hospitals and recommended they be shut down, recalls Li Tiantian, founder of Dingxiang Doctor, which runs a medical myth-busting-and-advice forum.
政府也态度谨慎。在许多国家，包括拥有世界最大远程医疗市场的美国，大部分保险公司都不会赔付患者的线上医疗费用。除了少数几个地区外，中国的社保也不报销网上看病的费用。中国大多数线上医生只被允许处理复诊续方，不得做初诊诊断。丁香医生（运营着一个辟谣和科普医学论坛）的创始人李天天回忆，2017年一份政府政策草案对互联网医院持“负面态度”，并建议关停这些医院。
Last year the government began to lift some restrictions, such as a ban on the sale of prescription drugs. But covid-19, as the new disease is known, has accelerated the shift. At the peak of the epidemic in early February a health-ministry directive mandated that internet-based medical services be given “full play” to diagnose and treat patients. Another encouraged hospitals to give online consultations. Jiangsu province, China’s industrial powerhouse, authorised reimbursements for online medical care. So have cities including Shanghai and Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, where covid-19 first emerged.
从去年开始，政府陆续取消了一些限制，例如允许在网上销售处方药。但这一次的新冠疫情加速了这种转变。在2月初疫情最严重的时候，国家卫健委出台政策，要求“充分发挥”互联网医疗的作用，为患者提供诊断和治疗服务。另一项政策鼓励医院开展线上问诊服务。工业强省江苏已经批准了线上医疗的医保报销。其他城市也先后将线上医疗纳入医保，包括上海和首先爆发疫情的湖北省会武汉。
Telemedicine firms are trying to win over the government and consumers by behaving like good corporate citizens. Many, including JD Health, are offering patients consultations free of charge while the epidemic lasts. Ali Health, an arm of Alibaba, China’s e-commerce titan, launched a free “online clinic” for residents of Hubei, which has been under lockdown; in five days 100,000 patients got a remote consultation. WeDoctor, an app backed by Tencent, a tech giant, mobilised 20,000 physicians to work online for no pay. Ping An set up an “antivirus command centre” to dispatch free face masks around the country. Dingxiang Doctor got epilepsy medication to 300 children in Hubei amid an acute shortage of suppliers and delivery firms. Its real-time heat map tracking covid-19 infections has been viewed 2.5bn times.
远程医疗公司正努力扮演良好企业公民的角色，以赢得政府和消费者的信任。包括京东健康在内的许多公司均在疫情期间为患者提供免费问诊服务。中国电商龙头阿里巴巴旗下的阿里健康为封城中的湖北居民提供“线上义诊”，五天内有十万名患者接受了远程问诊。科技巨头腾讯投资的微医动员了两万名医生在线上无偿工作。平安成立了“抗击病毒指挥中心”，在全国免费发放口罩。丁香医生在供应和配送公司严重紧缺的情况下，为湖北300名儿童送去了癫痫药物。该网站实时跟踪疫情的热力图已被浏览了25亿次。
All this is costing the companies money. But, says Mr Xin of JD Health, it makes “little sense” to focus on profit at the moment. What matters, he adds, is how covid-19 has made people think twice about rushing to hospital and helped foster trust in general practitioners, who provide the bulk of online advice. It has also broadened the appeal of firms like his, beyond middle-aged patients with chronic conditions to web-savvy youngsters seeking advice for parents and grandparents and healthy types simply seeking reassurance. Of the 10m people who have turned to the internet for health services in the past month, perhaps half were first-time online patients, says Ms Chen. At least a third are likely to keep using such apps, she estimates.
这些公司为此大把花钱。但京东健康的辛利军表示，这个时候考虑盈利“毫无意义”。他说，真正重要的是新冠病毒使得人们不再动辄跑去医院，而有助于培养人们对全科医生的信任，这些医生提供了绝大部分的线上问诊。疫情也让他们这类公司吸引到了更多用户，不再只是中年慢性病患者，还有精通网络、为父母和祖父母寻求建议的年轻人，此外还有仅仅是为消除疑虑的健康人群。陈乔山说，过去一个月里有一千万人通过互联网寻求医疗服务，其中可能有一半是初次上网求医。她估计，至少有三分之一的人可能会继续使用此类应用。
Remote possibilities
远程的潜力
It is not just patients and politicians who are embracing telemedicine. JD Health has lured more pharmacies to its platform (in part by waiving the fee it earns on drug orders in Hubei). China’s underpaid, overworked doctors are also keen. Xiao Xingxing left a AAA hospital in Beijing to consult full-time for JD Health; many old colleagues and classmates are doing the same, she reports. And against the backdrop of a global, virus-induced stockmarket rout, Chinese online health firms offer a tonic to ailing investors. This year the share prices in Ping An Healthcare and Ali Health are up by 33% and 74%, respectively. ■
积极拥抱远程医疗的不止病患和政客。京东健康还吸引了更多药店进驻其平台（部分原因是它免收湖北地区药物订单的平台费用）。工资收入低、工作强度大的中国医生对此也充满了热情和期待。肖幸幸（音译）从北京一家三甲医院辞职后，加入了京东健康担任全职医生。她说自己的许多老同事和同学也做出了同样的选择。在疫情引发全球股市暴跌的背景下，中国的互联网医疗公司为困顿的投资者注入了一针强心剂。今年以来，平安健康医疗科技和阿里健康的股价已经分别上涨了33%和74%。
词汇讲解
1 hunker
英 [ˈhʌŋkə(r)] 美 [ˈhʌŋkɚ]
Their strategy for the moment is to hunker down and let the fuss die down.
他们目前的策略是保持低调，让事态慢慢平息。
2.
I have to hunker down to finish my algebra this evening.
我今晚要专专心心地把代数作业做完.
3.
They are not allowed to hunker down to rest after running 5,000 meters.
他们跑完5000米后不准蹲下休息.
2 brick-and-mortar
英 [b'rɪk'ændm'ɔ:tər] 美 [b'rɪk'ændm'ɔtər]
实体的，具体的；
1.
Now the company is moving further into the brick - and - mortar world.
现在,它正朝着现实世界中的销售网络进军.
2.
Brick - and - mortar companies are working hard to create similarly rich date sources.
实体公司努力收集相同的数据资源.
3 halt /hɔːlt/ CET4 TEM4
When a person or a vehicle halts or when something haltsthem, they stop moving in the direction they were going and stand still. 使停住; 停住
They halted at a short distance from the house.
他们停在离房子不远处。
=lame 跛的; 瘸的
If something such as growth, development, or activity comes or grinds to a halt or is brought to a halt, it stops completely. 完全停止
Her political career came to a halt in December 1988.
她的政治生涯于1988年12月彻底结束了。
4 ailment /ˈeɪlmənt/ CET6+ TEM8
N-COUNT An ailment is an illness, especially one that is not very serious. 小病
The pharmacist can assist you with the treatment of common ailments.
药剂师能帮助你治疗平常小病。
5 steer clear of
Steer clear of negative thoughts. If a negative thought creeps in – replace it with a positive thought. 避开消极的想法吧，如果消极的思想在蠕动——那么用积极的思考取而代之吧。
6 egg on
If you egg a person on, you encourage them to do something, especially something dangerous or foolish. 怂恿
He was lifting up handfuls of leaves and throwing them at her. She was laughing and egging him on.
他正抓起把把树叶朝她扔去。她笑着，怂恿他继续扔。
7 tenfold /ˈtɛnˌfəʊld/
equal to or having 10 times as many or as much 十倍的
a tenfold increase in population
8 tune in
If you tune in to a particular television or radio station or programme, you watch or listen to it. 收看; 收听
All over the country, youngsters tune in to Sesame Street every day.
全国各地的儿童每天都收看“芝麻街”。
If you tune in to something such as your own or other people's feelings, you become aware of them. 了解 (感情等)
You can start now to tune in to your own physical, social and spiritual needs.
你可以现在开始了解你自己身体、社交和精神方面的需要了。
9 practitioner /prækˈtɪʃənə/ CET6+ TEM4
N-COUNT Doctors are sometimes referred to as practitioners or medical practitioners. 行医者
10 prestigious /prɛˈstɪdʒəs/ TEM4
A prestigious institution, job, or activity is respected and admired by people. 有声望的
It's one of the best equipped and most prestigious schools in the country.
它是该国设备最好、最有声望的学校之一。
11 injunct /ɪnˈdʒʌŋkt/
V to issue a legal injunction against (a person) 给(某人)下制止令
12 outpatient /ˈaʊtˌpeɪʃənt/
An outpatient is someone who receives treatment at a hospital but does not spend the night there. 门诊病人
...the outpatient clinic.
…诊所。
13 injunction /ɪnˈdʒʌŋkʃən/ TEM8
An injunction is a court order, usually one telling someone not to do something. (法院的) 禁令; 强制令
He took out a court injunction against the newspaper demanding the return of the document.
他拿出法院强制令，要求这家报纸归还该文件。
An injunction to do something is an order or strong request to do it. 指令
We hear endless injunctions to managers to build commitment and a sense of community among their staff.
我们听到对经理们无休无止的训示，要他们在其员工中培养奉献精神和团队意识。
14 prescription /prɪˈskrɪpʃən/ CET6 TEM4
A prescription is the piece of paper on which your doctor writes an order for medicine and which you give to a pharmacist to get the medicine. 处方
The new drug will not require a physician's prescription.
这种新药不需要医生的处方。
A prescription is a proposal or a plan that gives ideas about how to solve a problem or improve a situation. 方案
There's not much difference in the economic prescriptions of Ireland's two main political parties.
爱尔兰两大政党的经济方案没有多大差异。
15 mandate /ˈmændeɪt/ CET6+ TEM8
If a government or other elected body has a mandate to carry out a particular policy or task, they have the authority to carry it out as a result of winning an election or vote. (政府或机构经选举而获得的) 授权
The president and his supporters are almost certain to read this vote as a mandate for continued economic reform.
总统和他的支持者们几乎肯定地认为这次投票是对继续进行经济改革的授权。
When someone is mandated to carry out a particular policy or task, they are given the official authority to do it. 授权
He'd been mandated by the West African Economic Community to go in and to enforce a ceasefire.
他受西非经济共同体授权去介入并执行停火协定。
16 dispatch /dɪˈspætʃ/ CET6 TEM4
If you dispatch someone to a place, you send them there for a particular reason. 派遣
He had been continually dispatching scouts ahead.
他一直不断地派遣侦察员到前面去。
If you dispatch a message, letter, or parcel, you send it to a particular person or destination. 发送
The victory inspired him to dispatch a gleeful telegram to Roosevelt.
胜利鼓舞了他发喜电给罗斯福。
17 epilepsy /ˈɛpɪˌlɛpsɪ/
N-UNCOUNT Epilepsy is a brain condition that causes a person to suddenly lose consciousness and sometimes to have seizures. 癫痫
Shawna suffers from epilepsy.
肖娜患有癫痫。
18 acute /əˈkjuːt/ CET4 TEM4
You can use acute to indicate that an undesirable situation or feeling is very severe or intense. 严峻的
The war has aggravated an acute economic crisis.
这场战争加剧了一场严峻的经济危机。
The report has caused acute embarrassment to the government.
这份报告使政府极其尴尬。
ADJ An acute illness is one that becomes severe very quickly but does not last very long. Compare . 急性的
...a patient with acute rheumatoid arthritis.
…一位患急性风湿性关节炎的病人。
If a person's or animal's sight, hearing, or sense of smell is acute, it is sensitive and powerful. 敏锐的
When she lost her sight, her other senses grew more acute.
失明以后，她的其他感官变得更加敏锐了。
19 bulk /bʌlk/ CET4 TEM8
N-SING You can refer to something's bulk when you want to emphasize that it is very large. 大块
The truck pulled out of the lot, its bulk unnerving against the dawn.
拂晓时分，卡车驶出了停车场，庞大的车身看起来有点儿可怕。
You can refer to a large person's body or to their weight or size as their bulk. 庞大肥硕的身躯
Bannol lowered his bulk carefully into the chair.
班诺尔那肥硕的身躯小心地坐落到了椅子上。
The bulk of something is most of it. 大部分
The bulk of the text is essentially a review of these original documents.
正文的大部分基本上是对这些原始文献的回顾。
If you buy or sell something in bulk, you buy or sell it in large quantities. 大批地 (买卖)
Buying in bulk is more economical than shopping for small quantities.
大批采购比少量购买更经济实惠。
20 lure /lʊə/ CET6 TEM8
To lure someone means to trick them into a particular place or to trick them into doing something that they should not do. 引诱
He lured her to his home and shot her with his father's gun.
他把她诱骗到家里，然后用父亲的枪把她打死。
They did not realize that they were being lured into a trap.
他们没有意识到正被人骗入圈套。
21 pharmacy /ˈfɑːməsɪ/ CET6+ TEM4
A pharmacy is a shop or a department in a shop where medicines are sold or given out. 药店; 药房
Pick up the medicine from the pharmacy.
从药房取药。
2
22 waive /weɪv/ TEM8
If you waive your right to something, such as legal representation, you choose not to have it or do it. 放弃 (权利)
He pleaded guilty to the murders of three boys and waived his right to appeal.
他对杀害了3个男孩的罪行表示认罪伏法，并放弃上诉的权利。
If someone waives a rule, they say that people do not have to obey it in a particular situation. 放弃 (规则)
The art gallery waives admission charges on Sundays.
美术馆星期天免费开放。
23 backdrop /ˈbækˌdrɒp/ TEM8
A backdrop is a large piece of cloth, often with scenery painted on it, that is hung at the back of a stage while a play is being performed. 舞台背景
The backdrop to an object or a scene is what you see behind it. 背景
...the rugged cliffs that formed a backdrop to the village.
...构成村庄天然屏障的崎岖峭壁。
The backdrop to an event is the general situation in which it happens. 事件的背景
The election will take place against a backdrop of increasing instability.
选举的背景是逐渐不稳的局势。
24 tonic /ˈtɒnɪk/ TEM8
A tonic is a medicine that makes you feel stronger, healthier, and less tired. 补药
People are spending twice as much on health tonics as they were five years ago.
人们花在保健补药上的钱是5年前的两倍。
respectively /rɪˈspɛktɪvlɪ/ CET4
Respectively means in the same order as the items that you have just mentioned. 分别地
Their sons were three and six respectively.
他们的儿子们分别是3岁和6岁。
