Villagers’ health in hands of dedicated medic
Motivated by the death of his grandpa, a barefoot doctor has made patients in a poor mountainous region his priority
Letang, a povertystricken mountain village that sits beside the Yellow River in Shanxi province’s Daning county, is home to about 500 farmers. As a local saying goes, “Letang is the last place in the world a woman should look for a husband.”
Today, most young people from Letang work elsewhere, leaving only about 200 villagers — mostly age 60 or older — to live a hand-to-mouth existence in loess cave dwellings.
However, He Xinglong, a barefoot doctor — a healthcare worker trained to attend the basic medical needs of villagers — in his mid 30s, is an exception. He chose to stay in Letang after graduating from a local nursing school in 1999, and finds great satisfaction in providing medical services to villagers in the area.
He said many people called him crazy when he first decided to stay in Letang, but that during the years, they have changed their mind and now appreciate his dedication to local communities.
In the past 17 years, He has made 170,000 trips in the mountains, covering more than 400,000 kilometers, to visit patients at home, and he has treated more than 4,600 people in 28 villages.
He does not demand payment for his trips, diagnoses or treatment, asking only for the basic cost of the medicine he provides, if needed.
After graduating, he refused offers from a county hospital in Daning, where his performance as an intern won recognition, and a pharmaceutical company in Taiyuan, the provincial capital.
“The villagers donated a total of 3,000 yuan ($435) of their hard-earned savings to pay for my college tuition fees after I received my school’s letter of admission,” he said.
He’s grandpa, who raised him, passed away when he was 12. “If there had been a doctor in the village, he would not have died from a fever,” He said. “That’s why I was so determined to become a doctor for the people of my village.”
Letang is 35 kilometers from the county town. Previously, it took several hours to walk through a difficult mountain pass to the nearest hospital. “When farmers got sick, they just waited and hoped they would recover from their illness. If not, they died,” he said.
He was able to realize his dream when his father sold all his corn and his only two sheep in exchange for 900 yuan to buy his son some simple medical apparatus and instruments, and some common drugs, while He opened his clinic in a loess cave that was dug for his marriage.
At first, the villagers did not believe He had enough experience to be a doctor. To overcome the obstacle, he offered to treat them free of charge, gradually winning their trust.
Although he is only be able to treat some common illnesses, it makes a big difference to the villagers, as He is available around the clock.
“We can call him at any time and just wait for him to arrive,” said Feng Jianzhong, a farmer from nearby Yunju village.
Chen Cuiping, He’s wife and mother of their two children, said: “He always answers his phone. No matter how bad the weather is or how far away a patient is, he always tries his best to reach the patient’s home as soon as possible. He has done this for the past 17 years.”
Chen and He were classmates at nursing school and fell in love during their time as interns at the county hospital. “He was so thoughtful when he treated patients that I knew he would treat his family well too,” Chen said.
However, He often apologizes to Chen, saying his wife, children and parents are the people he has neglected the most.
Asking nothing in return, He has established health records for all villagers in Letang, and provided vaccinations for the 1,028 children in the entire area. He also takes care of 13 elderly villagers who live alone.
He was once awarded 5,000 yuan by the provincial government, which he spent in addition to 800 yuan of his own money to buy farm tools and generators for the villagers.
“The farmers are much more health conscious now, which is extremely satisfying for me,” he said.
But He’s commitment to helping others has taken its toll on his own health. He has developed rheumatoid arthritis and scoliosis, due to carrying medicine, as well as chest pain and erosive gastritis.
His many years of hard work and dedication have resulted in him winning awards recently, which is a concern to the villagers. “Please send a message to the authorities. We will not allow them to move He elsewhere,” one villager said.
However, He said he has no intentions of leaving: “I will never move. My roots are here.”