Bringing hearts and minds

Public welfare program sees volunteer doctors visit medically ill-equipped rural areas to not only offer people free consultation and treatment, but also provide training and knowledge, Cheng Yuezhu reports.

This might have been one of the more bustling days for Chagyoi town, deep in the mountains of Zogang county, Chamdo, Tibet autonomous region.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, when medical experts from Beijing arrive at the town's health center, its front yard is already packed with villagers, who line up in front of the tables waiting for their turn to see the doctors.

One of them, Yeshe Nyima, lives in a village more than 30 kilometers away from the town. He got up at 6 am to bring his 59-year-old mother to see the doctors for a checkup for her chronic leg pain.

"I saw on the news that doctors from Beijing are coming to treat patients, and our village committee also informed us. I've never heard of such an event before, let alone attended one," he says.