Doctor gives up comfortable life to serve seniors in village

Li Qinru is on his way to a patient's home. [Photo/CCTV]

In an age when money defines everything, a doctor gave up the chance to earn big and instead chose to stay in his rural hometown and help the elderly, reported Xinhua News Agency.

Li Qinru, 54, is the only doctor in Zaoshi village in Qiqin township, Jiangxi province. Zaoshi is the most remote administrative village in the county. With an altitude of 600 meters, the only concrete road leading to the outside world was built in 2012, and the 13 communities in the village are all located halfway up the mountain, with the remotest one six kilometers away from Li's clinic.

Young people have left the village to work in cities, leaving behind the elderly with the average age of more than 70.

It is cold and humid in late October. Li Qinru is eating breakfast when the phone rings. It is an old woman named Li Dianpo. A person making the call on her behalf said that her husband had an asthma attack, and she herself wasn't feeling well.

Putting down his bowl, Li steps out of his clinic with a medical kit full of medicines, a blood pressure monitor and a stethoscope.

Carefully walking through the slippery stones, Li enters the patient's home. He inquires about the conditions of Li Dianpo's husband, prepares the medicines, and hangs up the saline drip for him. He also prescribes medicines for the old woman.

"The couple is in their 80s. One suffers from arthritis and asthma, and the other has hypertension. Their sons are working in the county seat. They old couple come to me when they are unwell," said Li.

While Li was seeing his patients, several others gathered at the door for consultation.

By the time he finished handling all the patients, it was half past eleven. Then it was time go back to the clinic. On the way back, he was stopped by an old man who was walking with difficulty. He whispered something to Li.

"He has used up the firewood and asked me to chop some for him," said the doctor.