Doctors give blood to revive dying mother

By Zhu Ping | China Daily | Updated: 2007-07-24 06:37

Chinese nurses check a Liberian patient's condition. Wang Anmin

The telephone rang at 3:30 am. Dr Zhang Sun, who was on night duty at the fifth Chinese peacekeeping medical unit in Zwedru County, of Liberia, picked up the phone. "This is an emergency," he was told. The life of a 34-year-old pregnant Liberian woman was hanging by a thread.

The call came from the local Merlin hospital about 10 minutes' drive away. Eight hours earlier, on April 11, the woman, Gdallee Sackar, came to the hospital for treatment of her severe stomachache and bleeding. Her ectopic pregnancy had put her into a deep coma. She was dying from severe hemorrhaging.

Simply equipped, doctors at the Merlin hospital found themselves powerless to treat her. So, they called the Chinese medical unit.

Dr Zhang immediately notified Captain Li Yadong. Li sent three Chinese doctors out to bring the woman back to the unit; they were accompanied by two soldiers from the UN peacekeeping mission.

By 4:30 am, Sackar was lying on the table in the emergency operation theater of the Chinese medical unit, as Chinese doctors and nurses hovered over her. The patient's nervous family members were waiting outside. From the results of a series of tests, deputy captain Xu Haitao and his colleagues found that the patient needed an immediate blood transfusion.

However, there was no blood bank in Zwedur County. Even worse, no family member matched her blood type of A-RH+. Surgeon Hou Huichi and other two members - Chen Qingkui and Chen Jiangwen at the scene - volunteered.

There was no moment of hesitation, as their blood was drawn. Other team members also gathered to take blood tests. Within 10 minutes, 800-ml of blood was collected. Xu called a Chinese peacekeeping engineer unit at 5:05 am for help, because they still needed more blood. Five Chinese peacekeeping soldiers donated 1,000-ml blood within 20 minutes.

Then, Sackar's heart suddenly stopped beating. The doctors and nurses immediately began resuscitating her, and her heartbeat returned in two minutes. At 6:30 am, they managed to stabilize the patient and transferred her to intensive care unit.

Over the next 35 hours, the patient suffered from several relapses, but the Chinese medical team managed to bring her back from the brink of death. At 5:30 pm on April 13, Sackar finally came to herself, after being in a coma for 46 hours.

Officer Chen Jiangwen said that was just one of many such cases that the Chinese peacekeeping units encountered in Liberia. When 31 villagers in Manyea Town, in the suburb of Zwedru County, were struck with tungiasis, the Chinese medical team rushed in to help.

In February and May, a 10-member team visited the Sinoe State rubber plantations and saw more than 1,000 villagers who went to the team for checkups and medical advice. The Chinese doctors provided $1,600 worth of medication for free.

Chinese doctors and nurses also established working relationship with Merlin hospital, to train staff while donating $1,320 worth of medical appliances.

When the pregnant patient was discharged from the Chinese base on April 13, the woman's family members nearly knelt down to thank the Chinese doctors.

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the hospital on April 12, to show her appreciation.

Groups of local people brought fruits, and when the doctors went out, some of their former patients followed their ambulances with applause.

(China Daily 07/24/2007 page23)