Medic lured by the call of wild
While Chinese doctor Guo Long refers to local Sudanese as "laoxiang", an amiable Chinese phrase to call villagers, the Sudanese called Guo "Abdullah doctor", praising him as a servant of Allah.
Dispatched by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in March 2002, Guo left China for Block Six at Al-Fulah Oilfield in middle-southern Sudan. He and another doctor Wang Cunbiao took turns serving there one month at a time.
While his family worried about his safety, Guo arrived in Sudan feeling fresh about his rainforest surroundings. But soon he learned about the various dangers of his new home.
With average temperature above 30 C, local tribal residents lived in shanties made of grass and wood, but many people slept outside under trees or on the roofs of their homes. Vipers and deadly spiders are everywhere and locals often suffer from rheumatism, malaria and snake bites.
Although the small and simple clinic was created for CNPC staff, it began treating some 10,000 locals for free. The clinic hired two Sudanese doctors as aids as more and more patients sought help.
On average, a Chinese doctor and a Sudanese aid would treat more than 20 patients each day. During the wet season, some patients would wait from 11 pm till daybreak to be seen.
Even after CNPC donated money for constructing a hospital there, Sudanese patients continued to come to the clinic because "they trusted Chinese doctors", Guo said. To communicate with patients, Guo also studied Arabic.
In the past six years, they have cured about 40 Sudanese bitten by vipers, and saved many patients from deadly malaria.
"Once I worked non-stop for four days and nights. I had to take care of a patient stabbed by robbers and another four who were hurt in a car accident. That was the most difficult time," said Guo, already in his 50s.
Wang had similar experiences. A Sudanese herdsman fell from a camel and a stake pierced into his anus. Wang asked him to drink a cathartic and helped him to excrete. After he recovered, the herdsman didn't say anything but held Wang's hands in tears.
To express their gratitude, local Sudanese often gave turtles, deer and eagles to Guo, who was fond of pets, and Guo now has a miniature zoo near the clinic. Every time the two doctors treated patients at their homes, the Sudanese families would bring in chicken and sheep as gifts.
"I am always moved when I see dozens of Sudanese people greet me at local airport after I return from vacation," Guo told China Daily. "Local police and tribesmen also tell me that they will always protect me."
Guo said that his company has supplied medicine and medical appliances to help local people in cooperation with Sudanese government. CNPC has built 101 clinics and hospitals across Sudan for free.
(China Daily 05/11/2007 page20)
