Chapter 536

In the afternoon, Lu Fan accompanied Tang Bing, Secretary, Jia Luhao, Bureau Chief, and other leaders to the Nanyuan City Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital for research on medical reform.

The Central Hospital was established in 1949, rated as a top-tier Grade-A hospital in 1995, the first prefecture-level Grade-A hospital in Huayuan Province. The hospital covers 80,000 square meters, has nearly 5,000 staff, 98 clinical departments and wards, 32 outpatient, emergency, and medical technology departments, 3,500 planned beds, annual outpatient and emergency volume of 1.6 million person-times, ranking 52nd on the 'National Prefectural City Hospital Top 100 List', and has repeatedly won the title of 'Provincial People's Satisfaction Hospital'. Conducting the pilot here demonstrates Nanyuan City's emphasis on pilot work.

The hospital's Party Committee Secretary, focusing on discipline construction, talent cultivation, and medical reform, briefed the leaders on the overview and difficulties encountered in development, and expressed sincere gratitude for the concern and support from higher-level departments.

The group first arrived at the hospital outpatient hall, where they saw crowds filling the place and the guides busy beyond coping.

The leaders listened in detail to the hospital's progress on key specialties, talent cultivation, graded diagnosis and treatment, and traditional Chinese medicine characteristic therapies; the principal focused on reporting the preparations for medical reform.

Bureau Chief Jia Luhao offered guiding opinions on hospital construction: first, strive to become the affiliated hospital of Zhang Zhongjing National University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; second, fully leverage the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, highlight its characteristics, and strengthen the construction of key specialties in TCM.

Afterward, the group went to the Acupuncture and Tuina Rehabilitation Department, exchanged views in detail with medical staff, and observed the traditional characteristic therapies on site.

Secretary Tang Bing emphasized the need to vigorously promote traditional Chinese medicine culture and enhance TCM service capabilities; to strongly advance the research and development of new TCM technologies, quickly grow and strengthen, thereby driving the hospital's all-around development, and jointly do a good job of the province's TCM cause.

Lu Fan, representing Nanyuan City, expressed his stance: we must fully implement the leaders' instructions, closely combine with the hospital's actual situation, make full use of all policies, adhere to inheriting the essence while innovating based on tradition, deeply explore the essence in the TCM treasure trove, fully leverage the resources and advantages of the TCM hospital, play the important role of TCM in preventing illness and treating and rehabilitating major diseases, better serve the surrounding provincial and municipal populace, safeguard public health, and make new contributions to the healthy development of the province's TCM cause and medical reform, composing an even more splendid chapter.

In short, today's TCM hospital is chaotic, but this is expected, as free medical care has just begun; the public, with a mindset of joining the fun, will surely crowd the hospital, exposing many problems in its preparations—this is precisely the significance of pilot work: discover problems, raise them, analyze them, solve them, push reform, and promote development.

In recent days, Nanyuan City's medical reform has exploded online, attracting netizens' attention and heated discussion; nobody expected that this 'small' Nanyuan would undertake such a shocking initiative—how could they? Regardless, it has brought a wave of traffic to Nanyuan, giving its 'top ten internet celebrities' a platform to shine, with sales volume rising steadily—this is a virtuous cycle.

By June, the city's work focus shifted to guaranteeing the college entrance examination.

Last year, Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan spoke harshly, demanding that each county and district use this year's college entrance exam results to speak. Consequently, over the past year, Nanyuan City's investment and emphasis on education have been unprecedented, fully ensuring logistical support for senior three teachers and students, canceling all extracurricular tasks for senior three teachers so they can focus solely on teaching. Even some districts issued the college entrance exam quality award in advance, pressuring teachers to produce results. The meaning is: money is given upfront; if the college entrance exam scores fall short, not only will the 'in-hand ducks' fly away, but you might also be held to account after the fact.

This year, high school management is unusually strict, especially for senior three, which is directly overseen by principals and vice principals, because county leaders have also issued them deadlines: if they fail to meet the college admission requirements set by the Municipal Party Secretary, principals will be removed on the spot and the school leadership team reorganized.

Nowadays, it's hard to find a mischievous, disruptive student in senior three; these 'bad apples' are either being 'rectified' or expelled, since high school is not compulsory education and can dismiss students.

Malicious conduct such as campus bullying has long vanished, because once it appears, the school need not act—the Public Security Bureau is waiting to 'earn merit'! Upon taking office, Public Security Bureau Chief Kong Yongjie immediately received a death order from the Municipal Party Secretary to crack down hard on campus bullying.

Lu Fangu attached great importance to the college entrance examination work; on June 3 he listened to the report from the Municipal Education Bureau on college entrance exam preparation. On the morning of June 4, he went to Nanyuan No. 1 High School for on-site supervision of the college entrance examination work and issued instructions regarding the high school and middle school entrance examinations.

The college and high school entrance examinations affect the vital interests of thousands of families and countless students, relate to educational fairness and justice, social stability and harmony, and are a major livelihood concern highly watched by society. All member units of the Municipal Admissions and Examination Committee must strengthen a sense of responsibility that never lets up and a sense of urgency like walking on thin ice, closely heed parents' demands and candidates' needs, provide assistance for any examination-related requests, and implement every aspect of the college and high school entrance examination work with strictness and meticulousness, creating a safe and comfortable testing environment for all examinees, achieving zero errors in the college and high school entrance examinations.

Under the emphasis of Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan, the Municipal Education Bureau took the lead, with 22 departments including publicity, cyberspace administration, public security, health, transportation, ecological environment, and administrative law enforcement working together to launch the 'Escort the College Entrance Examination' action, optimizing services for examinee care, providing thoughtful comprehensive guarantees for security, travel, accommodation, and hygiene, and fostering a 'warm-hearted college entrance examination' atmosphere.

City traffic police issued in advance temporary traffic control measures around test sites during the college entrance examination period; police cars cleared the way and escorted buses taking candidates to the exam; all municipal government agencies, enterprises and institutions delayed work start by one hour on the morning of June 7 to facilitate candidates' timely arrival; a free shuttle bus mechanism for examinees was established; each test site set up a 'snack area' stocked with bottled water and mung bean soup; the health department opened a psychological counseling hotline, and school psychological counseling stations offered round-the-clock consultation for examinees, promptly relieving their review and preparation anxiety……

Escorting the college entrance examination, Nanyuan's sincere actions moved cadres and the public deeply, and the cohesion of Nanyuan's people continually strengthened.

After the exam began, the city's 13 test districts, 59 test sites, and 2,274 test rooms were orderly, with good examination conduct and discipline; 100,000 examinees completed the college entrance examination smoothly, fully achieving the overall goal of 'absolute safety, stability and order'.

At 17:00 on June 8, with the sound of the bell marking the end of the English subject exam, the 2024 Nanyuan college entrance examination came to a close.

Applause, flowers, smiles, embraces, blessings…… As examinees strode out of the examination hall, all kinds of beauty came rushing toward them. Youth does not scatter; they rush toward a new brilliance!

Outside the test site of No. 1 High School, Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan and countless parents eagerly awaiting to accompany their children gathered at the school gate to welcome the examinees, their eyes full of expectation.

"Competition is fierce, studies are heavy; today's children really face considerable study pressure, but fortunately society is becoming more open, their choices are increasing, and as long as they are physically and mentally healthy, that's enough." Ms. Wang, holding flowers and waiting for her daughter, said to Lu Fan, "Children will eventually grow up and leave home; I only wish to do my utmost to see them off a little further."

There is a feeling called 'the college entrance examination is over'. At 17:15, examinees streamed out of the test sites, under the watchful eyes of parents and relatives, the youths who had sheathed their swords ran and jumped, shouting and cheering, freely expressing the vigor and fervor of youth.

Next, the children will catch up on sleep, travel, binge-watch shows, as well as study, take certifications, and engage in research learning; for the upcoming long vacation, those who have smoothly passed the college entrance examination have both schedules for relaxation and stress relief, and well-organized academic plans.

Over the past year, Nanyuan's senior three students have heard the name of Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan countless times, constantly feeling his care; whenever the school added a drumstick, the principal would mention Lu Fan.

Today, everyone finally got to see the 'living' Party Secretary; examinees and parents enthusiastically surrounded Lu Fan, sincerely saying, 'Secretary Lu, hello!'

Lu Fan smiled and greeted the children, saying: 'The kun-peng spreads its wings for ninety thousand li, in the boundless sky one can strive freely! The college entrance examination is a metamorphosis; only after enduring the pain of breaking the cocoon can one soar across the vast heavens; the college entrance examination is a climb; only after overcoming twists and obstacles can one finally behold the grandeur of all mountains; the college entrance examination is life's first major test, and those who face it are not only you diligent students, but also your parents' expectant gazes, the blessings of caring relatives and friends, the figures of countless enthusiastic people bustling about, and moreover the concern and high hopes of our hometown people.'

I hope you all start strong and make the honor roll, entering the universities of your dreams; harbor lofty aspirations, take dreams as your steed and march alongside them; stand boldly at the forefront, keep pace with the times; hold dreams in your hearts, achieve brilliance, cultivate vigorous spirit and fighting determination to become capable youth shouldering the era's responsibilities; cultivate daring courage and self-reliant fortitude to become youth of both virtue and talent for the era; cherish your native land, remember your roots when drinking water, serve as good image ambassadors, publicity ambassadors, and liaison ambassadors for our hometown Nanyuan, contributing more to its development!

Lu Fan's encouragement drew rounds of applause from examinees and parents; everyone felt a heartfelt respect for this Municipal Party Secretary.

On June 25, when the college entrance examination scores were released, the secretaries of each county and district set aside their work, stationed themselves at the Education Bureau, awaiting the aggregation of scores, and they would personally bring the score sheets to report to Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan.

At 2:00 p. m., the Party Secretary of Neixiang County, Sun Wenjun, was the first to come and report the college entrance examination results: 12 students are expected to enter Peking University or Tsinghua University; 2,858 met the cutoff for first-tier universities, an increase of 455 from last year; 6,350 met the cutoff for undergraduate programs, an increase of 760 from last year, thus fully fulfilling the college entrance examination target set by the Municipal Party Committee!

For a county to have over a dozen students admitted to Peking University or Tsinghua University is truly rare. Lu Fan did not stint on praise, affirming the hard work, dedication to benefiting the people, unwavering resolve through wind and rain, and steadfast commitment of the Neixiang County Party Committee and its education system up and down.