godfather of surgery

Chapter 1221 Why donate your own salary?

Adams' management method is quite interesting. He made detailed observations of some repetitive daily tasks in the department, such as nurses dispensing medicine and administering IVs. He felt that these tasks could be optimized and designed to create a more time-saving and safer way of working.

Yang Ping looked at the nurse's medication dispensing flowchart in his notes. He had to admit, it really could increase efficiency many times over, save time, and, more importantly, improve safety. Sometimes, a good method is really important.

Yang Ping returned the notebook to him: "Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I will definitely pass on your suggestions to our hospital director. If possible, our hospital will hire you as a management consultant."

"I'm willing to work for you for free. I won't charge a penny. Just give me some more time so I can observe the hospital's operations more broadly and deeply. I'm sure I can design a very scientific model," Adams said, seeing that Yang Ping wasn't just giving him the runaround.

Yang Ping nodded: "But I have one condition: you must get enough sleep or get appropriate exercise, and you absolutely cannot stay up all night like last time."

Adams said happily, "Professor Yang, please rest assured, I will never do such a foolish thing again. Now I need to take good care of my health and wait for good news."

Anyway, as long as he doesn't stay up all night and affect the collection of experimental data, let him do whatever he wants. If he can really help Sanbo Hospital establish a scientific management model, it might not be a bad thing. He's just idling around anyway, so giving him something to do might be more conducive to stabilizing his emotions. Adams' emotions are still unstable and fluctuate a lot.

The nurse measured his vital signs again, and his heart rate and blood pressure were completely normal. It seemed that it was indeed caused by tension. Once the tension was relieved, it could return to normal even without the use of related medication.

The various indicators did indeed change quite quickly after treatment, and the results of the experimental treatment were quite optimistic.

"I have another suggestion!" Adams said as Yang Ping was about to leave after finishing his rounds.

This person has a lot of suggestions, but many of them are indeed quite good. Yang Ping stayed to listen to his advice.

"You guys are terrible at packaging. Such a great K treatment is just packaged in an ordinary bottle and done in a hospital room, like a regular IV drip. If this were in the US or the UK, I bet this treatment would be packaged with more scientific appeal than in a science fiction movie. This would lay the groundwork for future pricing and subtly instill in people the idea that this is a highly advanced new technology from the future, and that spending so much money is worthwhile."

"You Chinese are too honest; you don't know how to tell stories, how to package your products, or how to make money..."

Adams didn't want to waste Yang Ping's time and wanted to get all his suggestions out at once.

“I will consider your suggestion,” Yang Ping said.

After returning from the international medical center, Yang Ping checked the time. Tang Shun was going to hold a meeting to summarize the situation of the laboratory during this period, including a summary of the understanding and finances. Yang Ping then rushed to finish the meeting at the laboratory.

On the way, Yang Ping casually glanced at the chat in the WeChat group. August and Robert sent messages saying that their respective Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in Europe and the United States had received second approval, and they had started recruiting volunteers. When it comes to making money, Americans and Europeans are still more shrewd. For example, Robert, who was in charge of the project, simply arranged the donations into vertical rows and counted from top to bottom until all the spots were filled. This simple method raised more than a billion US dollars for the project.

Like Robert, August also raised a lot of money. In fact, these people were very efficient. They didn't have many moral constraints. As long as the procedures complied with legal processes and ethical rules, that was fine. As for making money, that was a matter of course.

And as Adams said, they were very good at storytelling, portraying the project as a magnificent feat—the efforts of a lone medical genius for human immortality. If immortality is to be achieved, then humans must first live to be 150 years old. To do this, the first thing is to conquer cancer, because cancer is the greatest enemy threatening human health. K therapy is the beginning of conquering cancer.

Robert and August reached a tacit understanding; they were telling the same story. Although the goal seemed grand and unattainable, K therapy was indeed tangible and visible. So this story attracted a lot of people, not only many donations, but also a lot of capital that had already inquired with Robert and August whether the technology would be commercialized. If it were, they were willing to invest huge sums of money.

Of course, Robert and August refused the request for commercialization, and their spirit of dedication, sharing, change, and perseverance was truly inspiring.

Tang Shun deeply understood the spirit of these people. When Tang Shun managed the laboratory, he didn't care what kind of international friend you were. If you could afford it, he would grant you the technology license. If you didn't have the money, forget about it. Don't even mention friendship or morality.

It is because of people like Tang Shun that Sanbo Laboratory is able to gather a large amount of funds to invest in scientific research, allowing these researchers to work with peace of mind, conduct their research slowly, and still receive high salaries.

Yang Ping shares the same view as Tang Shun, so he generally accepts donations from wealthy Europeans and Americans unless there are special issues. Who wouldn't want money? He's not that noble; he just wants to make money with his technology and then use that money to support scientific research.

As Tang Shun said, I share the technology, and you share the money.

At the summary meeting, Tang Shun gave an overview of the laboratory's situation, including personnel and finances. Currently, the laboratory's research funding account has billions of US dollars in cash. This is only the money that Tang Shun earned using the laboratory's new technologies, and does not include donations from research foundations.

Aside from paying salaries and allowances, all the remaining funds will be invested in scientific research. Without investment of money, scientific research is just empty talk.

"Let's see what different opinions everyone has," Tang Shun asked after finishing his report.

This money can only be used for scientific research and salary payments, and cannot be used for other purposes. It must also be subject to dual supervision by the state and the public, and must be audited seriously every year.

Zhao Wenbo raised his hand, and Tang Shun said, "Dr. Zhao, what's your opinion?" "I think it's unethical for us to use the technology in the lab to make money like this. These people are already patients. We doctors should have compassion and shouldn't be so focused on money. We research new technologies to benefit humanity, not to make money. What we're doing is putting the cart before the horse."

Zhao Wenbo said excitedly.

Tang Shun's eyes widened. If the research institute weren't an open and democratic place where everyone had the right to speak, he would have really wanted to curse this guy out.

"To tell you the truth, Dr. Zhao, I don't have many moral constraints. I don't know which aspect you're referring to as unethical. Stem cell technology delaying aging? Our technology does have some effect, of course it can't achieve immortality, it just delays it. Other countries are doing it this way, is there a problem?" Tang Shun usually works in the lab and doesn't interact much with the people in the clinical ward, but he knows that Zhao Wenbo is a contrarian.

Zhao Wenbo was not to be outdone: "Currently, stem cell technology has been abused. Everyone is trying to associate everything with stem cells. I'm not talking about stem cell technology itself, but about the number of spots in the Phase II clinical trials of K therapy. We allow Europe and the United States to obtain spots based on donation rankings, which is clearly unethical. We should maintain fairness and ensure that all patients have an equal opportunity to receive experimental treatment."

"In medicine, new therapies, especially those demonstrating strong therapeutic effects in their early stages, are subject to experimental treatment based on the principle of mutual selection. What does mutual selection mean? It means I choose the patient, and the patient chooses me; both parties must agree. Since demand exceeds supply, and I have control over the new therapy, why can't I use this method to make money in Europe and America? This is entirely legal and reasonable. When the US first started performing heart replacement surgery, a certain super-rich individual was the first to receive this new technology because he donated a large amount of money to the hospital. This gave doctors the funds to continue refining the technology, ultimately making it accessible to ordinary people. This is a very mature and correct path. For example, it's also a tacit rule in the pharmaceutical industry. A new drug is generally extremely expensive because its research and development investment is huge and the risks are extremely high. Therefore, it must be sold at a high price to recoup costs and earn the expected profits from the wealthy. Once this mission is accomplished, the technology can be popularized and benefit ordinary people. There's no other way. If we don't do this, no new technologies will emerge in the future, and no one will be able to use them." Tang Shun patiently explained to him.

"You must know how much research funding we invest in each of our projects, right?" Tang Shun asked him in return.

Regardless of the specifics, Zhao Wenbo focused on one point: "We are a nation of etiquette and must uphold our national image. Your actions, using experimental treatments to make money from others, are completely damaging our image. I suggest that in the future, this free treatment should not be used to tarnish our image for such a small amount of money, but rather to establish our image of universal love. We could even provide subsidies so that everyone in the world has the opportunity to receive our free treatment. This is called social benefit. You are only concerned with economic benefits and not social benefits."

Tang Shun wanted to slap him. What kind of person was this? Was he a patient with severe cerebral edema? He had heard of Zhao Wenbo before, and seeing him today, he was right. This was a typical hypocrite, or, to use a popular term, a saint.

"Dr. Tang, if I were in charge of this money, let alone billions, I would at least put out a billion for this. I would never be so stingy. I would definitely use it to help those in need. Not only would I not take their money, but I would also give them subsidies so that they could come to China for medical treatment no matter where they are in the world, and let them feel our warmth." Zhao Wenbo had a rather upright appearance, and coupled with his righteous tone, he did give people a noble and righteous feeling.

Compared to his selfless dedication, Tang Shun seemed like a petty, profit-driven person who only cared about money.

"Dr. Zhao, why don't you donate your salary to patients in need?" one of the PhDs couldn't help but blurt out.

Many people immediately agreed, saying that since he was so noble, they should grant his wish, let him be a saint, and let him donate his salary.

Tang Shun immediately said, "This student's suggestion is very correct. How about this, Dr. Zhao, your foundation allowance will be suspended from now on and used to subsidize patients in need, to buy them plane tickets and hotels. You have no objection, right?"

Tang Shun picked up the phone and called the finance department, asking them to stop issuing the money and then make a certificate to present to Dr. Zhao.

Zhao Wenbo became anxious: "How can this be? We are having a free discussion now. How can you withhold my allowance just because my opinion differs from yours? This is settling a personal score. Everyone has the right to speak. You have no right to do this."

"Then let's deduct ten thousand?"

"No !!!!"

"Five thousand!"

"No !!!!"

"A thousand, a thousand should be enough, to cover the nutritional expenses for some patients who are not financially well-off."

"no!"

"You're not even willing to spend a thousand dollars, and you expect me to give up billions?"

Now it was Zhao Wenbo's turn to be speechless, but he wasn't so easily defeated: "This is legitimate income from my work. Many of the incomes you just reported are unethical. For example, the skin augmentation technology—you charge Ivan tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees every year. Who is Ivan? He's our friend. Is this how we treat friends? You should open up the core technology of this to the world so that everyone in need can receive affordable treatment. We can't just follow suit because other people's new drugs are expensive. Are they profit-driven unscrupulous businessmen, and so are we?"

As Zhao Wenbo spoke, he became more and more excited, disregarding the occasion and completely letting loose.

Yang Ping listened silently. Why was Zhao Wenbo being so noisy? Yang Ping usually respected everyone's right to speak, but now he couldn't stand it anymore. Several times when Yang Ping heard Zhao Wenbo debating with others, his views were very abnormal and distorted. Moreover, he often instilled this distorted thinking in the doctors, always standing on the moral high ground to criticize others. Now he was even criticizing Tang Shun for making money, saying that he was immoral and that many projects should be free.

"Today is just a summary of the lab's recent work, including financial and personnel reports. Dr. Tang's fee-charging items are legal and reasonable. There's no need to care about other people's opinions. He can come if he wants, and he can leave if he doesn't. He doesn't have that kind of benevolent image. Every high-end instrument we use, whether in experiments or clinical practice, is purchased with money. Why don't others give us equipment and technology for free? We now have leading technology, and there's nothing wrong with using it to make money. Dr. Zhao, your logic is a bit muddled." Yang Ping said bluntly. He had even decided in his heart to ask Dr. Zhao to leave the research institute. He didn't need such a hypocrite who had no ability and liked to morally criticize others.

"I..." Zhao Wenbo still wanted to argue his point, feeling like he was the only one who was sober in a world of drunks.

"Professor, please listen to me..."