Worlds most valued startup, ByteDance had recently established a fund to aid the frontline medical staff and doctors, with confirmed infected and death cases the funds have been released to the families.
Doctor working on his patient. Image credit: Hao Shaw/Unsplash
‘China Red Cross Foundation ByteDance Medical Workers Humanitarian Relief Fund’ set up by ByteDance to donate CNY 200 million announced four awards were given out to date. Two of them were doctors who unfortunately died while fighting the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection. According to the rules of the fund management, the special fund has allocated CNY 1 million to their families. This is the first time since the establishment of the fund that donation has been disbursed.
According to the staff of the special fund management committee, after evaluation by the management committee, Dr. Liang (梁) of Wuhan Yaxin General Hospital and Mao Yang (毛样), the deputy director of the Xianyang Town Center Health Center of Fujian Province, were fighting against the infection and unfortunately, they lost the battle. The management committee decided to subsidize CNY 1 million for each family. Funds have now been transferred to their immediate family accounts.
The other two fund recipients are the medical staff of Wuhan Xiehe Hospital. They were unfortunately infected with the virus and were diagnosed at the same hospital on January 18, 2020. The special fund will allocate CNY 100,000 for each of them. As of January 31, 34 front-line medical staff fighting the epidemic have received funding. Each of them received CNY 100,000.
It is understood that the ‘China Red Cross Foundation ByteDance Medical Workers Humanitarian Relief Fund’ was set up on January 25. According to the rules of the fund, it will be mainly used to protect the medical staff who are treating the virus. If any of the medical staff are unfortunately infected while treating a patient, they will receive CNY 100,000 from this fund, the figure rising up to CNY 1 million for treating and curing a patient. The specific awards and rules will be implemented by the China Red Cross Foundation.
According to the staff of the special fund, the special fund management committee is currently cooperating with relevant authorities, public welfare organizations, and hospitals to find front-line infected medical personnel and send donations to them. At the same time, infected front-line medical staff or immediate family members can search for ‘ByteDance Medical Rescue Fund’ in the Jinritoutiao and Douyin app and apply directly.
Prior to this, in order to let users know the epidemic situation and share prevention knowledge in real-time, ByteDance launched related topics through its products. Jinritoutiao launched a ‘Fight Pneumonia’ channel and listed nearby popular clinics. Douyin, widely known outside China as TikTok, added more features related to the spread of the virus. It launched a #FightPneumonia page that "provides updates on the spread of the coronavirus, expert reports and analysis, as well as relevant information on prevention," according to Chinese business and technology website TMT. The page aggregated information regarding where the illness is spreading and what prevention measures people can take.