Doctor-sharing making a difference in Tibetan hospitals

Yu Yabin, a pediatrician from Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, conducts a health check on a Tibetan girl.[Photo by Palden Nyima/China Daily]

While awaiting surgery to remove tumors from her uterus, Tibetan Lingkyi Drolkar said she was pleased to hear that it was a doctor from Beijing who would perform the operation.

"I heard Lhasa People's Hospital had been sent doctors from Beijing as part of an aid program, so I chose this hospital for my surgery," the 49-year-old said.

Since 1995, China's central government has been sending doctors to the Tibet autonomous region to improve its healthcare system.

Last year, the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Organization Department expanded the Aid-Tibet Program.

As part of the program, 16 medical teams consisting of more than 300 doctors were dispatched to Tibet over the past 15 months by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning. The first batch was relieved by a second group of 179 doctors in July.

They have come from some of Beijing's best hospitals and have been distributed among seven key hospitals in Tibet's cities and prefectures.

Yu Yabin, a pediatrician from the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, is one of 15 doctors who were assigned to Lhasa People's Hospital. She works alongside three other Beijing doctors in the obstetrics and gynecology department.

"Tibetan patients always show deep gratitude toward doctors, which is rarely seen elsewhere," she said.

In addition to performing surgeries, the visiting doctors have a secondary role training local medical staff - something that they hadn't been required to do in the past.