Lung specialist extends care to mountain areas

Grassroots development

Du knows her personal time and energy are limited and she cannot stay stationed in the mountains permanently. Rather than one-off treatments, a more sustainable solution is to "teach people how to fish".

Du turned free clinic sites into mobile classrooms, training grassroots doctors on site. Working alongside grassroots physicians on real-life cases, she explains CT imaging features and pulmonary function report interpretations for various lung diseases, helping them distinguish typical from atypical symptoms. After hands-on training, grassroots doctors are capable of handling most commonplace cases independently.

Over 17 years, Du trained more than 3,700 medical personnel for respiratory disease prevention and treatment, leaving behind a cohort of local doctors capable of diagnosing and managing illnesses. When grassroots doctors encounter cases they cannot confirm, they send QR codes of cloud-based CT scans to Du. After a careful review of the images, she provides diagnostic opinions. Patients no longer need to travel long distances to provincial capitals to obtain specialist diagnoses.

She said that lung disease in mountainous areas has improved nowadays. "In the past, most patients who came were already in end-stage lung disease with severe symptoms. As living standards and health awareness rise, more people take the initiative to get physical check-ups more regularly. Many pulmonary nodules are detected in early screening, enabling early intervention and treatment."

Furthermore, most grassroots health centers are now equipped with CT scanners. The biggest shortfall in diagnosis and treatment lies in the lack of specialist doctors capable of accurately reading scans, judging whether nodules are benign or malignant, and formulating follow-up treatment plans. She said cultivating high-caliber medical teams at the grassroots level remains an ongoing process. While advancing clinical treatment, Du's team also moves medical services forward, carrying out disease screening, health education and chronic disease management, striving to reduce the incidence of severe illnesses at the source.

Du also advocates lung protection tips: quitting smoking, proper dust-proofing at work and regular CT screening for high-risk groups.

In 2019, supported by the Party Committee of Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, the Du Ronghui Health Assistance Volunteer Service Team was established, drawing more than 300 medical workers. Team members travel to grassroots sites for free clinic duties on weekends in batches. Today, the free clinic program covers 17 prefectures and cities in Hubei and has extended to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Contact the writers at chenmeiling@chinadaily.com.cn