Since the medical collaboration with Kevin Vega involved communicating with a renowned foreign medical institution, the matter was taken over by the Affiliated Hospital’s external relations department.
Yan Feifan was relieved.
He briefly stated his requirements to the colleague in charge of negotiations and then washed his hands of the matter.
After all, negotiation wasn’t his forte.
Besides, with the hospital involved, he could focus solely on the surgeries. He wouldn’t have to worry about any of the procedural work or follow-up matters.
Yan Feifan had made just two requests.
First, no more than one surgery every two weeks.
Second, charge as much as possible.
’It’s not often you get to make money off foreigners. You have to fleece them for all they’re worth.’
For so many years, a huge number of Chinese citizens had gone abroad for medical treatment, giving plenty of money to famous foreign medical institutions.
Today was Friday, and Yan Feifan was scheduled to perform a facial reconstruction surgery on a child from the welfare institute.
The child was actually more of a teenager, fifteen years old.
His face had no deformities or injuries, but his situation was similar to Wang Dongdong’s—perhaps even more extreme.
None of the teenager’s facial features met conventional beauty standards. Put together, they created a first impression of being exceptionally ugly.
To put it dramatically, his face was ugly enough to make a baby stop crying, or to sober up a drunk and make them throw up.
’When a man is ugly to the extreme, it can be its own kind of alternative charm.’
After a brief conversation with the boy, however, Yan Feifan learned that he didn’t appreciate this "alternative charm." He preferred to be perfectly ordinary, just another face in the crowd, so Yan Feifan decided to perform the surgery.
The teenager’s surgery began at nine in the morning and lasted until four in the afternoon, taking a total of seven hours.
During the surgery, Lin Qian and Qi Xiuping, who were under Yan Feifan’s mentorship, took turns acting as his surgical assistants.
After finishing the surgery, Yan Feifan returned to the director’s office to rest and got some updates from Wang Chuan.
Zhou Yan, whose surgery had been a success, had not yet shown signs of waking up. He was still under observation in the ICU with stable vital signs.
Liu Jin had called this morning to report that before Kevin Vega boarded his flight, the two sides had reached a consensus on two points.
For this year and the next, both sides could send up to three people to each other’s neurosurgery departments for study and training for a period not exceeding six months.
However, the costs would have to be covered by the individuals themselves!
"It’s a ’mutual exchange’ in name only..."
Wang Chuan lamented, "They’re just playing word games to save face. The reality is that only people from our hospital will be going there to study."
"None of their people will ever come here."
Yan Feifan said confidently, "Director, that will slowly change. Isn’t this the first time a patient from Johns Hopkins Hospital has come all the way here for surgery?"
Looking at Yan Feifan, who was exhausted yet full of fighting spirit, Wang Chuan couldn’t help but nod and smile. "True. With you here, anything is possible."
After a pause, he added mysteriously, "Feifan, take a guess. What was the second point they reached a consensus on?"
"The fee schedule?" Yan Feifan answered, not very confidently.
Wang Chuan chuckled. "Closely related. To be precise, it’s what we would understand as a kickback."
He explained further, "Vega demanded a certain percentage as a commission for every tumor patient he refers."
"What the fuck..."
Yan Feifan exclaimed in surprise, his voice laced with contempt, "As a renowned neurosurgeon, he wants to make that kind of money too?"
Wang Chuan sneered. "Isn’t that perfectly normal?"
"There are plenty of intermediary agencies in China that make money by connecting patients with foreign medical institutions for a finder’s fee."
"Vega comes from the highly commercialized United States, so for him to make such a request is perfectly reasonable."
Wang Chuan laughed again. "Anyway, the wool comes from the sheep’s back. We just have to raise our quote a little, and there’s his commission."
Yan Feifan agreed, "That’s true."
"Besides, any American who can afford to come here for treatment is either incredibly wealthy or has excellent medical insurance. They won’t care about an extra few tens of thousands of US dollars."
He suddenly remembered something and asked, "Director, how are the arrangements with Mr. Yu coming along? I have to go to Jingcheng again this weekend."
"Should I... take Yanyan with me?"
"She might feel more comfortable with more familiar faces around."
Wang Chuan chuckled. "No need. I’ve already spoken with the Yu Family through Su Ye. They said Mr. Yu is coming to West Lake in Zhesheng Province this August."
"When the time comes, I’ll drive Yanyan to West Lake and let her get out for a bit."
"Sigh, she hasn’t been out for fun in so many years."
He then invited, "If you have time then, you can bring your sister, Su Ye, and Xiaoyu along too."
Yan Feifan was tempted, but could only say hopefully, "I’ll have to see if I have time then..."
At seven in the evening, Yan Feifan received another two-hour, one-on-one tutoring session from Dr. Qu Peng.