Dr. Kevin Vega came to China alone this time, without his surgical team.
Therefore, for the brain tumor removal surgery he was leading on Ms. Caroline, he needed the assistance of Chinese medical staff.
Dr. Qiu Ge generously offered her own team.
Not only that, she also personally served as an assistant, helping Yan Feifan with the live biopsy of the brain tumor tissue and Dr. Kevin with the tumor removal surgery.
In fact, if time had permitted, Yan Feifan would have liked to guest-star as the surgical assistant himself.
After all, Dr. Kevin Vega was ranked as one of the top ten neurosurgeons in the United States; his reputation was certainly well-deserved.
This was a great opportunity to observe and learn from up close.
Unfortunately, Yan Feifan had to perform a full-face plastic surgery on a female trainee from Korea that afternoon.
He had no choice but to give this observation opportunity to Dr. Qiu.
On Thursday morning, just after ten o’clock, Yan Feifan finished the puncture injection procedure for Carolyn’s brain tumor and left the operating room.
He had just walked out of the Little Red House when he received a call from Liu Jin.
"Feifan, the PLA General Hospital has given their feedback. They completely agree to the terms you and Mr. Wen settled on."
Liu Jin added over the phone, "They’re hoping you can treat their first brain tumor patient as early as next Thursday."
Yan Feifan let out a soft "oh" and said, "Teacher, have them send the case files to my email next Monday. I’ll take a look at them before deciding."
"I’ll pass that on to them."
Liu Jin replied, then chuckled. "To think that I, the director of a special-grade hospital, am running errands for you."
"Feifan, your workload is only going to increase. You should hire an assistant to handle some of the miscellaneous tasks for you."
Yan Feifan couldn’t help but ask, "Won’t the hospital assign one to me?"
Liu Jin chuckled. "You wish."
"Other chief physicians have their students double as their assistants."
"You aren’t qualified to take on students yet."
"However, with your current achievements and fame, there should be young doctors willing to volunteer as your assistant, or even just accept you as their teacher."
"Feifan, you could try putting out a message."
Yan Feifan refused outright. "I’m still in a phase of learning and accumulating experience. I’m not going to be anyone’s teacher."
"Besides, they’re all older than me."
Liu Jin laughed over the phone again. "Then just pay out of your own pocket and hire an assistant privately."
"Hmm..."
After a moment of thought, Liu Jin’s voice came through again. "I can offer you a special arrangement. Once you sort out your professional title and get promoted to chief physician, you can transfer your assistant’s employment to the hospital."
Yan Feifan said happily, "Teacher, thank you in advance. With this arrangement, there will definitely be a lot of applicants."
"It’s great to have connections in high places."
Liu Jin laughed heartily as well. "It’s mainly because you’re so skilled, kid. It makes even me have to suck up to you a little."
After a pause, Liu Jin’s voice continued from the phone.
"We officially signed the cooperation agreement with Dr. Kevin Vega yesterday. That matter of sending someone to Johns Hopkins Hospital for advanced training needs to be formally initiated."
"While our two sides are in the honeymoon phase, we should try to send someone over within a month or two."
"Feifan, do you have anyone you’d like to recommend?"
Yan Feifan knew Mr. Liu was asking this to give him a spot to curry favor or build connections.
The problem was, he had always been proudly independent and not very sociable, so he didn’t have many friends among his classmates or colleagues.
"Teacher, I don’t have a recommendation for the training position. You all can just choose someone. Try to send a person of good character and scholarship..."
After finishing the call with Mr. Liu, Yan Feifan was almost at the Plastic Surgery Center.
Today, Yu Suye and Lin Qian had surgeries.
They were performing a corrective surgery for a congenital deformity of the left leg on one child from the welfare home, and a facial bite-mark scar revision surgery on another.
In the family waiting area outside the operating rooms, Yan Feifan saw Mrs. Gu and called her over to a quiet corner.
"Mrs. Gu, starting next week, the Marine Police General Hospital will begin accepting handicapped and deformed children from the welfare home at a rate of two surgeries per week, until the Extraordinary Fund can no longer provide financial support."
Mrs. Gu was delighted, but then asked worriedly, "Mr. Yan, what about here at the Affiliated Hospital?"
Yan Feifan explained, "Mrs. Gu, don’t worry. The surgeries by Dr. Yu, Dr. Lin, and Dr. Qi will continue."
"It’s mainly me. I will no longer be performing surgeries for the handicapped and deformed children from the welfare home on a fixed schedule."
"In the future, I will choose to perform suitable surgeries at appropriate times."
Mrs. Gu said with a look of gratitude, "Mr. Yan, thank you for everything you’ve done for those poor children."
"It’s safe to say that without you, they wouldn’t have a new lease on life..."
Yan Feifan said modestly, "Mrs. Gu, what I’ve done is quite limited. It’s mainly thanks to the help from all sides."