Chapter 315: The Pharmaceutical Factory
Strictly speaking, apart from a small quantity of herbal preparations compounded by Liu San using local materials, the medicines consumed by Bairen General Hospital still came almost entirely from stockpiled reserves—including physiological saline for intravenous infusion.
These reserves were dwindling with every use. No matter how rigorously they economized, the day would come when supplies ran out. If basic medicines could not be reliably supplied, the Health Department would never be able to launch medical services on a larger scale—and with so few patients, both doctors and nurses had pitifully few opportunities to practice. Everything hinged on the next step: getting the pharmaceutical factory into production.
Shi Niaoren said, "As for long-term training, we must begin with fundamentals: physiological phenomena, anatomy, botany, zoology, and Western pharmacology. We need to develop a coherent theoretical framework—the goal being to establish a primary biology and medical system independent of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Besides short-term crash courses, we must simultaneously conduct formal education. Our next step will be to recruit medical and pharmaceutical students from among those who've completed literacy training for systematic instruction. This cohort may take ten years to fully develop, but they will become our successors. And if we're recruiting students, we need a basic theoretical foundation—otherwise, how will they understand what they're doing? Everyone should draft a preliminary teaching plan as soon as possible."
Hippo interjected, "This means our priority must be supporting the establishment of the education department and system. But as I understand it, our education system is only now being organized. Also—isn't the cultural level of literacy graduates rather low? To study medicine in China, one needs at least a high school education. In the US, you need three years of science college first."
"Can't we recruit some interns from among the transmigrators?" Liu San asked.
"Excellent idea!" Shi Niaoren felt as though he had discovered a new continent. Transmigrators had at minimum a high school education; learning medicine shouldn't present insurmountable difficulty.
"But studying medicine is dry and tedious. Would these people actually be interested?" Lan Yangyang voiced skepticism, recalling the misery of memorizing textbook after textbook during medical school.
"We could start by recruiting among the women. Most of them don't hold key positions, and women tend to be emotionally richer—they may find healing the sick and wounded more appealing."
Ai Beibei said, "That's feasible. Recently a young woman asked me how to become a nurse."
Hippo added quickly, "Nursing would be wasteful for someone like that. Let her become a doctor."
"And what about Hu Yicheng?" someone suggested. "He's wasted in the Ministry of Agriculture's biological laboratory—a molecular biology major, for heaven's sake. We should request his transfer to help produce medicines."
"Good. First compile a list of suitable candidates and focus on persuading them. Then place a notice in the Lingao Times announcing open recruitment of interested volunteers." Shi Niaoren tapped his notebook with his pen. "By the way—the recruitment poster should include provocative photos of female nurses. Check the general catalog of the AV library in the Great Library to see if relevant films exist. We can study them internally first..."
Ai Beibei laughed. "I won't be participating in that study session. Dean, I'm requesting leave."
"Very well, very well." Shi Niaoren coughed, sensing he had overstepped and somewhat compromised his dignity. "Continue, continue—"
Ai Beibei said, "The educational foundation of indigenous students is indeed quite low. I suggest we begin with basic anatomy. Didn't the origins of modern medicine emerge from Renaissance interest in human structure? Moreover, anatomy is visual education—students see what's actually there, which enhances persuasiveness. Once they establish basic cognition of human structure, it becomes far easier to understand pathology and related subjects."
Hippo nodded. "This still constitutes crash-course education. They can be 'retrained' later anyway. Besides, within our lifetimes we'll witness the first batch of indigenous high school graduates. Another critical point is breaking the ancients' superstitious thinking and their resistance to the modern Western medical system. Popularizing acceptance isn't actually difficult. We can borrow methods missionaries used in China historically—establishing civilian clinics and simple outpatient services, bringing medicine and treatment directly to the common people. Once they see results, promoting modern medical concepts becomes straightforward."
"But this issue circles back to medicines, consumables, and equipment again." Shi Niaoren sighed.
"Including surgery—we can barely perform operations now," Hippo said. "We have no qualified anesthesiologists. I can probably fill in, but that's not sustainable. And anesthetics diminish with each use; we must find substitutes."
Medicines and medical consumables depended entirely on achievements from the chemical industry—specialized equipment, special materials, including rubber, corrosion-resistant products, various catalysts and reagents. Many catalysts were closely guarded trade secrets of their original manufacturers.
"We can begin experimenting with antibiotics," Zhao Yanmei said. "I'll attempt to cultivate Kasugamycin, Oxytetracycline, and Aureomycin—the simple preparation of these antibiotics is relatively straightforward. After preparation, we'll test them on animals at the Ministry of Agriculture first. If toxicity levels are safe, we proceed to clinical human trials."
"Running a pharmaceutical factory requires many chemicals. I'm skeptical when the chemical department can begin large-scale production beyond refining coal tar. Some basic or critical drugs should still be accumulated gradually in the laboratory. APC can be made using relatively rudimentary methods. For the present, if we can treat common diseases and war wounds, and screen for common pathogens, that's sufficient. Add some planning and regulations, and so forth. Anything more is impossible for now." Shi Niaoren remained pessimistic on this matter.
Liu San had waited until they'd discussed nearly everything before speaking up. "There is also the development and utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicine." He drew a breath. "I'm aware many people have reservations about TCM. However, it still contains many proven formulas with demonstrated efficacy. The preparation of Chinese medicines is also relatively convenient. The Health Department should give this due attention."
"I agree entirely." Shi Niaoren nodded. "I've been wanting to discuss the pharmaceutical factory issue with you for some time. Proprietary Chinese medicines will be a key focus of our production."
"Yes—we should attempt to replicate useful proprietary medicines. Things like Zhuge Xingjun San and similar remedies. It's unfortunate the formula for Yunnan Baiyao remains secret." Liu San's voice carried genuine regret.
"Did Yunnan Baiyao exist in the Ming Dynasty?"
"No, it only dates from 1902." Liu San shook his head. "Most of the effective proprietary Chinese medicines we know completed their final formulation and processing during the Qing Dynasty. Perhaps we could acquire Pien Tze Huang in Fujian."
"That would be excellent." Hippo's interest was evident. "It's a holy remedy for inflammation and antibacterial purposes in TCM."
"The efficacy is indeed good. People in TCM circles say it was a secret court prescription from the Ming that later spread to Fujian. It should exist now. When we send people to Fujian for procurement, we can make inquiries. If we discover where it's manufactured, we might as well kidnap the makers and bring them back."
"We needn't limit ourselves to proprietary medicines we already know," Liu San continued. "The Ming Dynasty surely had effective proprietary formulas of its own—we simply don't know them. We should contact External Affairs and Intelligence, use their connections to collect proprietary medicines. Clinical testing will reveal whether they're effective, and we may find ways to improve them."
"Mm, mm." Shi Niaoren nodded in agreement.
"Also—" Seeing the Dean's support, Liu San pressed on. "—we must secure the supply of our Chinese medicinal materials. Manufacturing proprietary medicines is impossible without raw material supply. Typically, only the county town in Lingao has a medicine shop, and I've inspected it: the variety is incomplete. I made inquiries. Apart from a small portion produced locally, most of their stock is imported from Qiongshan and Leizhou. The scale of the shops here is too small; they haven't accessed the major medicine markets."
Ai Beibei asked, "Didn't you specially establish an herb garden at the farm?"
"Far from adequate," Liu San said. "There are two thousand common Chinese medicinal materials on the market alone. Many also require special processing. Additionally, precious drugs like musk, ox bezoar, and rhinoceros horn are difficult to obtain in suitable quality unless you go to the major medicine markets."
"You want to visit the medicine markets to purchase herbs?"
"Precisely." Liu San nodded. "Whether I go personally or we send someone else, we should buy and stockpile precious medicinal materials as soon as possible. It's 1629 now—probably still a relatively peaceful period in the late Ming. As the world grows more chaotic later, the medicine trade may well be interrupted."
"Good. I'll coordinate this matter. We'll aim to produce a plan as soon as possible."
At the meeting, the establishment of the Pharmaceutical and Medical Instrument Factory was formally announced. This factory would be jointly operated by the Agricultural Committee and the Ministry of Health. Consequently, the factory director's rank was elevated, with Shi Niaoren and Wu Nanhai serving concurrently as directors. The executive director was Zhao Yanmei from the Ministry of Health, while the Agricultural Committee appointed Huang Dashan as executive deputy director. Both happened to be working on bacterial strains.
The pharmaceutical factory's location was chosen on the riverbank not far from the farm. Ample wasteland surrounded the site, and it could share the farm's comprehensive infrastructure. Moreover, most of the biological expertise among the transmigrators was concentrated at the farm, permitting convenient collaboration.
The entire pharmaceutical factory was designated a key department of the Transmigration Group and received highest priority in infrastructure construction. To ensure constant temperature in certain production laboratories, Bairen City's first air conditioning system was installed at the pharmaceutical factory.
This was the geothermal air conditioning system originally proposed by Li Xiaolü. By drilling wells more than ten meters deep and exploiting the constant-temperature characteristics of subterranean earth—using water as a heat-exchange medium circulating between underground and building—it could achieve warmth in winter and coolness in summer: extracting heat from the ground in winter, releasing heat to the ground in summer.
The principle was simple, but the entire system was extremely luxurious. Not only did it require digging wells over ten meters deep, but it also demanded the manufacture of high-efficiency heat exchangers—constructed from brass. The copper requirements alone made the Planning Committee's heart ache for some time.
But the pharmaceutical factory was one of the ten key projects of the "First Five-Year Plan"—a project Ma Qianzhu declared must be launched even if they had to "pawn their pants." Fortunately, the copper required didn't actually force Ma Qianzhu to pawn anything; it merely provoked protests from the Power and Telecommunications Departments, whose resource allocations were squeezed.
This project launched amid intense preparations, and the Machinery Factory began manufacturing the relevant pipelines and equipment according to the blueprints.
(End of Chapter)