Chen Feng pondered for a moment and found the crux of the issue.
He was a practitioner of Chinese medicine, and Professor Zhou Lifeng was an oncology expert; there were no problems with either of them.
There was only one possibility: the imported laboratory equipment had malfunctioned.
"Professor Zhou, is the cancer case biopsy analysis equipment at the capital's oncology hospital made by Germany's Noel Machinery?" Chen Feng asked directly.
"How did you know?" Professor Zhou Lifeng was taken aback.
The capital's oncology hospital had specifically imported Noel Machinery from Germany to ensure the accuracy of cancer diagnosis. Although the price was several times higher than other machines, the accuracy had been quite high over the years, reaching ninety-eight percent. To date, the remaining two percent had not yet been accounted for.
"Then that settles it," Chen Feng let out a long sigh of relief.
"What do you mean?" Professor Zhou Lifeng remained puzzled.
"Professor Zhou, my uncle's late-stage cancer was misdiagnosed by Noel Machinery," Chen Feng replied truthfully.
"What? Your uncle's late-stage cancer was misdiagnosed by Noel Machinery? How is that possible? Noel Machinery is the leader in the medical machinery field; how could it misdiagnose a late-stage cancer case?" Professor Zhou Lifeng asked with disbelief.
"Professor Zhou, as far as I know, there is a significant difference in the export methods between China and Germany," Chen Feng said calmly.
Professor Zhou Lifeng felt a bit disoriented, wondering how Chen Feng had shifted from diagnosing late-stage cancer to discussing export issues between China and Germany.
"What difference?" Professor Zhou Lifeng asked.
"Germany tends to export substandard products to China. Conversely, China prefers to export top-grade products to Germany. This is due to differing views on foreign relations. Germany is very confident, believing its products are second to none globally. They look down on China, thinking China's economic development is poor and its people cannot afford good things, nor are they qualified to use them. Therefore, there is no need to appease the Chinese people; exporting some substandard products is sufficient. Chinese people, on the other hand, have historically admired foreign goods. Deep down, they are insecure and believe that products exported abroad must be the best. The products used to deceive the domestic population are exported to Germany, and the Germans would surely reject them. Hence, in China, foreign trade products are a guarantee of quality. The general public can be fooled, but foreigners absolutely cannot be fooled, nor can they be fooled even if one tried. Germany's thinking is precisely the opposite; they believe Chinese people can accept substandard products and will happily pay a high price for them due to their admiration for foreign goods. However, for domestic use or for products exported to the United States, they must be top-grade, otherwise, they are easily rejected," Chen Feng stated with a serious expression.
"Mr. Chen, what you've said is factual, and I do not refute it. However, what does this have to do with misdiagnosis?" Professor Zhou Lifeng retorted.
"Professor Zhou, consider this: the machinery exported by Noel Machinery is substandard, so it is natural for misdiagnoses to occur," Chen Feng replied calmly.
"Mr. Chen, to speak frankly, even if German Noel Machinery sells us substandard products, the substandard products from a major industrial power like Germany, even if substandard, have better quality control than ours in China. We Chinese have a flaw: even when things can be done best, along the way, they will inevitably cut corners and reduce quality..." Professor Zhou Lifeng argued against Chen Feng. The implication was simple: even if Noel Machinery's products were substandard, they still had a ninety-eight percent pass rate, a feat that Chinese medical machinery could not match.
"Professor Zhou, I do not refute your point either. German Noel Machinery, even if substandard, has a higher pass rate than Chinese products. Chinese products are cheap, and they look good on the surface, but after use, you realize the pass rate is not high. My point is that over time, Noel Machinery is prone to misdiagnoses. It is imperative to use different machinery for re-examination. If two different brands of machinery both result in misdiagnosis, the probability is virtually zero," Chen Feng said earnestly.
"Mr. Chen, are you suggesting that we use medical equipment inferior to Noel Machinery to verify if Noel Machinery's equipment is problematic?" Professor Zhou Lifeng looked at Chen Feng incredulously. Using less authoritative equipment for verification seemed entirely unreliable.
"Professor Zhou, in truth, I would not resort to such a method, but you are not a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine; you are a Western medicine practitioner. If you studied Chinese medicine, you could use the diagnostic methods of observation, listening, questioning, and palpation to verify that Noel Machinery did indeed misdiagnose this time."
"Mr. Chen, you are not an outsider, so I will not hide anything from you. We have been using Noel Machinery for over a decade, and it has never misdiagnosed a single case. How could it misdiagnose now? If I am not mistaken, your uncle was also examined by Noel Machinery at Jiangcheng City People's Hospital, wasn't he? If it was misdiagnosed twice, what are the odds of that happening?" Professor Zhou Lifeng countered. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"If two different brands were used, the possibility of misdiagnosis twice is almost nonexistent. However, if the same brand was used twice, misdiagnosis is still possible. Professor Zhou, according to the unspoken rules of the Chinese system, to support domestic brands, the capital's oncology hospital must have domestic analysis machinery. Please go to the trouble of performing another test," Chen Feng whispered.
"Fine, since you insist, I will humor you and verify it." Professor Zhou Lifeng finally compromised, not because he believed Chen Feng was entirely correct, but mainly because Chen Feng was a good friend of Wang Ziwei, the young lady of the capital's Wang family, and he had to give her face.
Thus, Professor Zhou Lifeng re-examined Chen Feng's uncle. Another half-day passed. When Professor Zhou Lifeng saw the second lab report, he was utterly stunned. My heavens, what was going on? The result of this test was that the patient did not have late-stage cancer.
"Chen Feng, what… what is going on?" Professor Zhou Lifeng asked, utterly bewildered.
"Professor Zhou, didn't I just say? Noel Machinery had a problem and misdiagnosed," Chen Feng replied directly.
"It was a real misdiagnosis?" Professor Zhou Lifeng felt dizzy.
"The ironclad facts are before us; it was a one hundred percent misdiagnosis," Chen Feng stated calmly.
"Mr. Chen, something is very wrong here. Truly, Noel Machinery has been problem-free for decades; how could it suddenly have a problem?" Professor Zhou Lifeng continued to ask, bewildered.
"Professor Zhou, putting aside the issue with Noel Machinery, your blind faith is not the attitude of a doctor. When treating patients, doctors must proceed from reality and not blindly believe any authority. Furthermore, this time, both the capital's oncology hospital and Jiangcheng's Noel Machinery have had issues, which leads to only one possibility: someone is tampering with them," Chen Feng stated with a serious expression.
"What? Someone is tampering?" Professor Zhou Lifeng exclaimed in shock.
"Although Noel Machinery might have problems, I don't believe two Noel machines would both malfunction. There is only one explanation: these two machinery failures are definitely man-made," Chen Feng explained word by word.
"Mr. Chen, I do not accept your hypothesis. Whether it is the capital's oncology hospital or Jiangcheng People's Hospital, because Noel Machinery is very expensive, it is supervised by dedicated personnel, and daily records are kept. With such stringent protective measures, it is impossible for someone to tamper with Noel Machinery," Professor Zhou Lifeng said firmly.
"On the surface, no one has the capability to tamper with Noel Machinery right under your noses. However, what if they used computer programming to subtly tamper with Noel Machinery..." Chen Feng explained earnestly.