Profiles

Village doctor's unflinching devotion

By Liu Jun (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-22 06:39

Two years ago, Liu Zhijie and several volunteers members of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and university students from Beijing headed out to Southwest China's Guizhou Province to survey the medical situation there.

They ran into a doctor who was rushing to save a baby born prematurely at Datang Village, Congjiang County.

Li Chunyan, a 28-year-old rural doctor has tried her best to save every life she can. She became one of the 10 people who touched the nation's heart in 2005. [China Daily]

The infant had ingested much amniotic fluid during the difficult birth and was turning blue. The volunteers thought the baby was dying. Just then, the village doctor Li Chunyan stepped in.

Equipped with just a stethoscope, a thermometer, two pairs of haemostatic tweezers and a pair of scissors, Li had no choice but to suck out the fluid from the baby's mouth herself.

"I truly admire her," said Liu Zhijie, in an interview with the China Central Television (CCTV). "When others do artificial respiration, at least there is a layer of gauze to cover the patient's mouth. But she had nothing. She was sucking amniotic fluid directly from the newborn baby, it must have been awful."

Gradually, the baby's skin regained its normal hue. Even so Li decided that they must send the baby to the county hospital immediately.

After a bumpy ride of some 40 minutes, Liu said, everyone was carsick. But Li Chunyan continued the artificial respiration.

When they finally made it to the hospital, she fainted.

"That was a life," said a calm 28-year-old Li during a recent programme on CCTV. "I must try my best to save every life I can."

On February 9, Li became one of 10 chosen persons who touched the nation's heart in 2005. The nominees are picked nationwide annually by CCTV for their presence of mind, faith and courage.

Datang Village with a population of 2,500, is the largest village in Congjiang County in southeastern Guizhou. More than 90 per cent of the villagers belong to the Miao minority. Steep mountains, while helping preserve local folk customs, have also hindered economic development.

Bare facilities

In 2001, a young man named Meng Fanbin was demobilized from the army and brought home a girl of Han ethnicity. She was Li Chunyan.

Also a native of Congjiang, Li was the first girl of Han ethnicity to marry into the Datang Village. She had graduated from a public health school in Liping County of Guizhou and the couple wanted to support their family by running the first clinic in the village's history.