In September 2018, Liu Zhonghao, the Deputy Chief Physician of the Traumatic & Orthopedic Surgery of the Second Hospital of Shandong University, and Yang Yuhai, the Deputy Chief Physician of the Medical Imaging Center, were sent to Seychelles for a two-year medical aid mission as members of the 17thChinese Medical Team Assisting Seychelles from Shandong Province. How time flied! After one year of their stay in the foreign land, the two doctors have won the recognition of local peers and patients with their excellent medical expertise, as well as their earnest and strong sense of responsibility. Here is Liu Zhonghao sharing his precious experience of making rounds of medical visits to the outer islands of Seychelles.

  I work in the Victoria Hospital, Seychelles, the largest hospital in Seychelles, with80 or 90 percent of the doctors and nurses employed from abroad, mostly Cuba, India and Sri Lanka.

  There are five doctors in the Orthopedic Surgery which I worked in, including two junior Seychellois doctors who had just graduated. In addition to working on duty, outpatient service and surgery, medical visits to the outer islands are also an important work for us. However, considering the hardship and free nature, such work falls on Chinese doctors who always take the initiative to do it.

  As a 50-year-old doctor who doesn't speak much English in China, it is a new challenge for me to make a solo medical visit to the outer islands in a foreign country. There are two rounds of medical visits per month, with one day in the middle of the month, and two days at the end of the month. I have to take the earliest flight in a small airplane at 5:40 or 6:55 a.m. local time. Each flight is a special experience for me. Many of you may not have taken such small planes. Just like a tractor popular in the rural areas, it rumbles with a loud noise and flies at very low altitude. I’m scared each time when I’m in it and my ears are still singing even after getting off the plane. 

 Each time I have to get up at four o 'clock in the morning, and take the car dispatched by the hospital to the airport one hour in advance. We will fly to Praslin Island first, and then go to La Digue by boat. There are a lot of outpatients, usually being more than 30, most having made an appointment in advance, as well as some patients who came under emergency cases. In the afternoon, we will return to Praslin by boat. After completing the work of the outpatient service in the next day, we will take a small plane to return. The first time when I went to Praslin for a round of medical visits, I missed the return flight because there were too many patients. I waited for 4 hours at the airport, and finally took the last return flight under the help of the airport.

Airplane Carrying Medical Workers to Outer Islands for Medical Visits

Flustered on a Small Plane while Taking a Selfie with a Forced Smile 

Liu Zhonghao Treating a Patient in the Outpatient Setting

Group Photo between Liu Zhonghao and a Local Patient

 According to Liu Zhonghao, although the work is challenging, it is an excellent opportunity for Chinese medical team members to spread the Chinese voice and show our selfless dedication. Whether at the airport, piers, hospitals, hotels or islands, we can receive the warm praise from the local residents, and can always hear the lousy greeting "Hello, doctor!". We have fully appreciated the confidence and cultural confidence brought to us by the strength of our motherland. The medical conditions on the outer islands are far from good, and we are faced with a shortage of doctors. So, we take comfort in being able to relieve their pain. As a member of the Second Hospital of Shandong University, I will always keep in mind the instructions of the Hospital and department leaders, and win glory for our country and our hospital in our ordinary yet meaningful work.

{Author: Liu Zhonghao Edited by: Publicity Department/News Center}