The honorary citizen of Yan'an

Nearly four and half years after he left Yan'an, Zhu Yue still occasionally dreams about the cave houses at Yangjialing and Baota Mountain.

As a senior professor of orthopedic surgery at the China Medical University in Shenyang, Liaoning's provincial capital, the 51-year-old also heads up one of China's leading orthopedic departments at the First Hospital of the CMU, which performs over 4,500 operations a year.

He spent 18 months working toward alleviating poverty by offering treatment to patients in Yan'an, a remote northwestern city in Shaanxi province.

"Returning to Yan'an was to explore the historical starting point of the CMU. Our original remit (when the university was founded) was to work for the health of the troops, but now it is to work for the health of the residents," Zhu says.

Founded in 1931, the CMU arrived in Yan'an at the end of the Long March with the Central Red Army (or First Front Red Army) in 1935, where it developed over the following decade. It stood to serve the army but also provided free medical services to the local residents, according to Guo Xiuzhi, executive deputy chief of the publicity department at the CMU.

However, the city known for being the cradle of the Chinese revolution had witnessed a low standard of medical services over the years due to a lack of proper training facilities at local hospitals and a lack of support from high-level medical colleges.

In order to help Yan'an with its healthcare issues, the CMU began offering support to Yan'an People's Hospital in 2012. Zhu was assigned with the task of leading the first team of medical experts to the city to provide professional support.

"It was a brief stay but it offered valuable experience. Working in Yan'an didn't only help improve the levels of local medical care, but also helped me to educate and improve myself," Zhu says.

In order to work more effectively, Zhu sent several packages of surgical instruments from Shenyang to Yan'an. This proved to be a farsighted move as he was presented with a very rare case just four months after reaching the city.

Hao Yangang, a farmer in Yanchuan county, couldn't stand up straight because his spine was bent. Due to limited treatment skills and a tight family budget, Hao had gone from being the breadwinner of the family to a burden, forcing them to the brink of financial collapse.

Zhu and his colleagues put together a detailed plan for a series of operations, which he performed himself. It was a great success and Hao was able to stand up straight again, and the family was saved from ruin. Hao's wife was so grateful that she presented Zhu with a set of handmade traditional northern Shaanxi paper-cuts.

"This set of paper-cuts is recognition and praise from Yan'an people for my work. I will treasure it as my most precious gift. The patient's trust and gratitude also strengthened my belief in the value of coming to Yan'an to help the poor," Zhu told China Daily.

Moreover, Zhu helped to train local medical experts and set up a department for pain management and rehabilitation at Yan'an People's Hospital, making a fundamental improvement to the standard of local medical services. The hospital's orthopedics department also intended to apply for a key national department under his guidance.

"The expert team from the CMU led by Zhu has played a major role in alleviating the local people's difficulties in receiving proper treatment, by training local medical teams and helping the hospital in Yan'an to build up a spirit of academic cooperation," said Liang Hongxian, the former mayor of Yan'an city.

Zhu Yue was conferred the title of honorary citizen of Yan'an in March 2017 for his outstanding contributions to alleviating health poverty in the city.

Two years after Zhu's departure, Yan'an People's Hospital was successfully upgraded to a third-grade class-A hospital in 2017. On May 7, 2019, the Shaanxi provincial government announced Yan'an's overall success in eliminating poverty.

Hao Jiandong, director of the Yan'an Health Commission, said: "The CMU has supported Yan'an wholeheartedly, and with a true affection for the local people. They are repaying the old revolutionary base and it's a practice of the 'red doctor spirit'."

Even today, Zhu still provides guidance to his friends in Yan'an and continues to help improve the orthopaedics department there. Local doctor friends also mail him millet and red dates as festive gifts.

"As senior academics, doctors have a responsibility to demonstrate personal values. I returned to Yan'an to support the local medical services. My team and I have received patriotic and professional education. Returning to the starting point of the Chinese revolution and the CMU has helped me to stay true to my original aspirations. The invaluable wealth of this experience will stay with me for my entire life," Zhu says.

Cai Shuang contributed to this story.