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NDS’s own Dr Ying Cui has been working with the Society of Chinese Medical Practitioners and the Oxfordshire Chinese Community and Advice Centre UK to raise funds for personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff.

Ying Cui and her colleagues outside the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Dr Cui is a Tissue Handling Technician working with Professor Clare Verrill within the Verrill Pathology Group at NDS. She was originally trained as a medical doctor in Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in Guangzhou, China before obtaining a DPhil in Physiology at Oxford University and working as a Phlebotomist in the John Radcliffe Hospital. Her driving motivation is to help patients and care about frontline health workers like her.

In mid-February, with COVID-19 quickly spreading in China, Dr Cui initiated a fundraising campaign involving 74 family members and alumni of the SYSU class of 1995 and the Guangzhou No. 2 Middle School. The campaign managed to raise £4,145 to support SYSU Hospitals.

At the end of March, as the COVID-19 situation was developing in the UK, the leftover balance from these previous donations, along with the joint Peking University (PKU) Alumni Association Fund, was used to purchase CE-certified PPE, which was then donated to Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital in London.

Ying Cui and her colleagues donating protective equipment to NHS staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.As the situation escalated in the UK, NHS key workers were risking their health in their efforts to maintain the standard of care for patients while combatting the crisis. Dr Cui approached the SYSU class of 1995 alumni again to raise £3,535.25. The fund was divided between the Society of Chinese Medical Practitioners UK and the Oxford Hospitals Charity before being used to purchase 790 pieces of medical visors for the Oxford University Hospitals and 300 medical masks for St Andrew’s Care Home. A further amount was then donated to Oxford Hospitals Charity to improve the life of medical staff in this trouble times.

Following this fundraising success, on 9 and 10 April, Dr Cui volunteered with the Oxfordshire Chinese Community & Advice Centre UK to donating 3000 certified medical protective respirators to the John Radcliffe Hospital. Dr Cui is among many Chinese nationals who live and work in Britain and who have been generously contributing to the NHS as well as to our communities. Through coordinating these campaigns, Dr Cui aims to contribute to efforts to protect the NHS and save lives during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and celebrate the spirit of hope and resilience that our NHS workers have shown on a daily basis.

Media coverage

Oxfordshire Chinese community donates PPE to hospitals 
The Oxford Mail, 30/04/2020