Unveiling medical mysteries

"Sometimes, I think I will die with such heavy pressure, but I have faith. It takes 25 years to nurture a good neurologist. I won't die so easily.

"Whether I am a good doctor or not is to be judged by others," he says. "It depends on the question that I ask myself: Are you really responsible in caring for your patients? No one else knows the answer except me."

Conflicts between medical practitioners and patients are often reported in the media in China. But the crew does not focus on violent incidents in hospitals, though they witnessed a few during seven months of shooting.

"Mutual understanding between patients and doctors is the basis of a harmonious society," Zhang says.

"It's better to be reasonable rather than making the tensions worse, which is something that is often done to catch eyeballs.

"Hospitals are not a place where you can always get a product when you pay. Sometimes, even though doctors put in 100 percent effort, they still cannot save lives."

Doctors often see patients make courageous decisions. Hu shares the story of a couple, who - after several failed pregnancies - had to finally choose an abortion due to severe deformity of the embryo.

"They didn't want to give up, though they were given the bad news at the very beginning by other doctors," says Hu.

"As a doctor, it's my duty to prolong their hope as long as possible. They had a strong will to go on. I really admired them."

Shooting for the series was a roller-coaster as one rarely knew what would happen next in the hospitals. And the crew always had to get consent from patients, but not everyone agreed.

"Those who agreed did not necessarily think we could solve specific problems," Zhang says.

Zhang says that the crew once followed a patient for three days, but the patient's family finally opposed media exposure.

"It was sad, but we had to respect their request for privacy," says Zhang, adding that she often tried to make friends with the patients.

The crew launched public donation campaigns to support some of them.