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Healing touch for Beijing's migrant workers
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-13 10:36
As Beijing's army of migrant workers toils day and night to realize China's dream of hosting a successful Olympics, another, smaller army of doctors is in place to make sure they get the medical care they need.
Tan Dequn is part of this silent but crucial piece of the Olympic puzzle, leaving her practice three years ago to devote herself - in a supporting role - to the massive project of re-landscaping Beijing, which some are calling the biggest engineering project China has seen since the building of the Great Wall.
Tan Dequn treats a patient at a clinic for construction workers next to the 'Bird's Nest'.[China Daily] |
In November 2005, a clinic was set up by the Aviation Industry Central Hospital at the construction site of main Olympic venues like the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) and the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube).
Tan was sent to the hospital as its first doctor.
"When the human resources official talked with me about working at the construction site, I knew that it was going to be a lot of work for me, as the workers are under a lot of pressure and can easily be injured," said Tan, who is in her fifties.
"But since they need doctors, it is my responsibility to help them, even if I have to sacrifice something myself."
Tan said that seeing her patients change from high-income, white-collar workers to provincial farmers came as a bit of a culture shock.
"Most of my patients before were part of what you might call the social elite. They had to pay a registration fee of 200 yuan ($26.3) and we always offered them VIP services.
"But at the clinic at the construction site, the workers register for free and the working conditions were pretty shabby at the beginning," said Tan, who has been a doctor for over 30 years.
Most of the time, she is the only doctor in the clinic, where she works over 10 hours a day and only gets one day off a week. She said that at peak times she has to treat over 100 patients a day, more than double the workload of a regular hospital.
"I won't refuse any patients, because I know that if I turn them down, they won't be able to afford to go anywhere else."
Life was made harder for her in the beginning as she also had to promote the clinic herself, as most of the migrant workers had no idea it existed.
"I made some posters and discussed with officials at the construction site ways of getting the message out," she said.
Since the clinic was started, it has treated some 13,000 cases.
According to her calculations, it only costs the workers an average of 10-15 yuan for each visit to the doctor.
And money saving is something she takes very seriously, even bending over backwards to cut energy costs at the financially strapped clinic. Instead of using the air conditioners, she makes do with a fan despite the hot and sticky summer climate.
Due to Tan's efforts, more and more workers have begun pouring into the clinic seeking treatment for their illnesses or injuries
In March, the small clinic was temporarily closed. When the hospital and related government departments planned to re-open it, Tan again turned out to be their first choice.
"Actually, according to common practice, doctors like me are only responsible for working in community clinics for 15 days a year, so I have already fulfilled my duty," said Tan.
"But since the clinic needs me, and the workers need my help, I'm ready to work here for as long as I can."
Last month, a new clinic opened in the workers' living area of the construction site. Together with Tan, there are two doctors and two nurses working there.
"I don't care much about myself," she said. "What I care about is making sure that the workers get well taken care of."
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