Cui Zhitan, the square-faced man from the Department of General Surgery who had observed Yu Zhiming for the entire operation, started by giving an objective and concise summary of his performance.
After a brief pause, he added his assessment, "From preoperative preparations and his performance as the lead surgeon to the postoperative care, he was the primary doctor in charge, and he made no mistakes or oversights."
Cui Zhitan sighed softly. "That might sound simple, but it’s incredibly difficult to actually pull off."
"I’ve found that many doctors at our own hospital tend to be careless about the details."
Cui Zhitan picked up his cup, took a sip of water, and continued his evaluation. "Of course, there is still room for improvement in how he handles some of the finer details."
"But overall, considering the surgical skill, self-discipline, and high personal standards he demonstrated during this operation, I don’t think many of our own attending physicians can compare."
Liu Dingyou cut in, "Dr. Cui, based on your words, am I to understand that we do have some excellent attending physicians at our hospital who are on his level?"
Cui Zhitan paused for a second, then nodded. "You could say that. The skills and caliber he displayed in this surgery are comparable to our hospital’s finest attending physicians."
"And compared to an associate chief physician?" Liu Dingyou pressed.
Cui Zhitan was silent for a moment before saying, "Naturally, he’s not as good. There’s still a considerable gap."
Liu Dingyou gave a small smile and said no more.
Yuan Qi looked at Zheng Ye and asked, "Dr. Zheng, you also watched Yu Zhiming’s entire surgical performance. Do you have anything to add?"
Zheng Ye chuckled. "I agree with Dr. Cui."
Yuan Qi grunted in acknowledgment, then took out a few photocopies and passed them to the four people at the table.
"Using my connections at the Lu Province Health Commission, I was able to find some more specific information from Yu Zhiming’s file."
Yuan Qi explained, "His college entrance exam scores were in the lower ranks for the clinical medicine program at Jishui Medical College."
"However, by the time he graduated, his overall grades were excellent, placing him in the top 10%."
Flipping through the documents, Liu Dingyou remarked, "Who cares if he graduated first? A place like Jishui Medical College has no national ranking to speak of."
"Hmph. I heard their students are good at getting into grad school. Didn’t this guy try?"
Yuan Qi chuckled. "From what I heard, he did. He applied to Jingda Medical School but was cut after the interview."
Liu Dingyou chuckled again.
Yuan Qi continued his introduction. "Yu Zhiming was promoted to attending physician at the beginning of this year. Considering his educational background, that was an exception. He was supposed to work for five years before even being eligible for consideration."
"The reason for the exception was his outstanding diagnostic ability."
Liu Dingyou said dismissively, "At a place like a county hospital, it’s pretty simple to snag an attending physician title. All you have to do is show a little competence and pull a few strings."
Cui Zhitan countered, "Dr. Liu, we need to be realistic. Yu Zhiming’s diagnostic abilities, which he demonstrated today..."
"Putting everything else aside for a moment, the internal organ damage he identified was spot-on. What’s more astonishing is that his findings were clearer and more precise than the imaging scans, almost as if he had X-ray vision."
"I’m nowhere near his level when it comes to that skill."
"Perhaps you can, Dr. Liu?"
Liu Dingyou burst out laughing. "Dr. Cui, I’ll admit, I can’t compete with that particular talent of his."
"But, I don’t need to have that kind of talent!"
He went on with an air of confidence, "Ultrasounds, X-ray machines, MRI scanners, and all the other diagnostic instruments... I can use them to achieve the exact same results."
"I’m not going to spend a precious ten or twenty years of my life learning old-fashioned diagnostic techniques, am I?"
The cardiopulmonary expert Wang Chunyuan, who hadn’t spoken until now, chimed in, "That’s certainly true."
"A lot of people complain online that as soon as they get to a hospital, the doctor just makes them do this test and that test."
"It’s as if doctors can’t diagnose patients anymore without those imaging scans, test orders, and lab reports."
Wang Chunyuan lamented, "But it’s the inevitable consequence of advancing medical technology. It diminishes the role of the individual doctor more and more."
"Perhaps in the near future, many doctors will be replaced by medical and surgical robots."
Liu Dingyou smirked. "Exactly. So Yu Zhiming’s ’specialty’ might be impressive in a poorly equipped county hospital..."
"But here with us, it’s not really a necessity. Or you could say, it’s just not that important."
Seeing that Cui Zhitan didn’t offer a rebuttal, Liu Dingyou felt a bit smug and changed the subject.
"Yu Zhiming correctly diagnosed all five patients. That’s to be expected, since none of them were difficult or complicated cases, and the symptoms were all so obvious."
"What I want to talk about are the prescriptions he wrote..."
Liu Dingyou glanced at Cui Zhitan, Zheng Ye, and Wang Chunyuan, then continued, "You all must have seen them, right?"
"So if I were to describe them as by-the-book, inflexible, and uninspired, that wouldn’t be an exaggeration, would it?"
"His performance in this area is worse than even an average attending physician at our hospital, to say nothing of an associate chief physician."
Liu Dingyou stressed, "And the standard for our talent acquisition program is, at a minimum, an outstanding associate chief physician."
Cui Zhitan couldn’t help but defend Yu Zhiming. "We can’t make a direct comparison like that."
"I must point out that Yu Zhiming graduated from a third-rate medical school and has been working in a county hospital with very poor medical resources."
"For him to have reached this level of skill proves his diligence and his potential."
"If he comes to our hospital and we cultivate his talent for a few years, his future could be very bright."
Liu Dingyou scoffed. "Dr. Cui, potential is just that—potential. It’s about the future, not the present."
"What we need to evaluate is whether Yu Zhiming’s current skill level meets the standards for this special recruitment."
Cui Zhitan shot back, refusing to yield, "The present and future are inseparable. It is absolutely worth making an early investment so that Huashan Hospital can produce a truly great doctor one day."
"Besides, his loyalty will be higher."
Liu Dingyou smiled faintly. "Wasted prodigies are a dime a dozen."
Just then, Yuan Qi tapped lightly on the conference table.
"That’s enough. No more arguing."
Seeing that all four were looking at him, Yuan Qi said slowly, "Regarding Yu Zhiming’s abilities, I believe we’ve all formed our own basic assessment."
"Let’s just vote on it, shall we?"
Seeing no objections, Yuan Qi reminded them, "Let me reiterate the consensus we reached at the beginning..."
"The goal of the hospital’s talent acquisition program is to recruit the very best medical professionals."
"When we make an exception, it’s to reach up for exceptional talent, not to lower our standards."
Yuan Qi’s expression was grave as he said in a low voice, "Now, we vote."
"All in favor of making an exception to recruit Yu Zhiming, please raise your hand..."
Huashan Hospital, President’s Office.
Li Yao, sitting behind his desk, placed a signed document into a tray to his side and looked up at Qi Yue in the guest area.
"Tell me, Director Qi, are you always this idle?"
Qi Yue stood up. "President, I’m normally incredibly busy. I’m only camping out in your office because I want to hear the committee’s decision the moment it’s made."
"I have a strong feeling the result isn’t going to be the one I’m hoping for."
Li Yao asked in a joking tone, "Director Qi, if it really isn’t the result you want, you’re not actually going to resign, are you?"
"I wouldn’t approve it, mind you."
Qi Yue chuckled lightly. "President, resigning is just a way to show my determination, not the goal itself."
"I’m here to overturn a bad outcome."
"This way, in the future, when that kid Yu Zhiming becomes famous, you won’t be kicking yourself and wanting to jump off the roof for being the president who let a great doctor slip away."
Li Yao paused, then grinned. "Qi Yue, from the way you’re talking, it sounds like you’ve been holding out on me. Hiding some information about that kid."
"Am I right?"
Qi Yue chuckled, neither admitting nor denying it.
Just then, the five-person evaluation committee, led by Vice President Yuan Qi, knocked and entered.
Yuan Qi was not at all surprised to see Qi Yue there. He nodded a greeting to him and then looked at Li Yao.
"President, the results of the evaluation are in."
He paused deliberately, shot a glance at Qi Yue, and then said slowly, "The vote was four to one against the special recruitment."
Yuan Qi further explained, "We believe that Dr. Yu Zhiming’s current abilities do not yet meet the minimum standard of our hospital’s talent acquisition program."
"However, we do acknowledge his excellence and potential. We recommend the hospital extend him an offer letter to join as a regular physician..."
He had barely finished speaking when a mocking voice rang out.
"An offer letter?"
"Who the hell gives a damn about your offer letter!!!"