Moment of compassion

The charity program China Hearts sends medical professionals and volunteers to Nyingchi, a remote and underdeveloped area in the Tibet autonomous region. Doctors from Beijing offer free clinic services and medicine to local Tibetans. [Photo by Liu Xiangrui/China Daily]

Volunteer medical teams from Beijing visited a remote township in Tibet in July as part of the China Hearts program. Liu Xiangrui reports from Nyingchi.

Despite the heat, 79-year-old Yudron was among the hundreds of local residents that lined up outside the local medical center in a remote township in the Tibet autonomous region waiting for the chance to see visiting experts from Beijing-based hospitals and medical institutions.

The members of the visiting medical team were among 800 medical professionals and volunteers from Beijing that were visiting Nyingchi city as part of an annual nine-day charity program, called "China Hearts" that sends medical volunteers to underdeveloped and remote parts of China.

The medical team that arrived in Yuxu township early in the morning on July 9, comprised 40 doctors and volunteers, and they received nearly 800 patients, mostly Tibetans, in two days.

According to Yudron, the villagers in the neighborhood were informed in advance that there would be free clinic services. And they knew it was an opportunity too good to miss.

"We were excited about it, and came to join the line immediately after lunch," says Yudron, who was given free medicines after receiving her diagnosis.

"The doctors were very professional and patient. I'm very satisfied with the service I received."

Yudron says she usually visits the township's medical center, which is just 1 kilometer away from her village, if she has any medical problems. But it can only handle small health problems, as it is relatively poorly equipped and has no well-trained doctors.