The dearest sacrifice

A young doctor has given up his family life to bring medical care to Africa

First and foremost, a doctor should treat all people, irrespective of their nationality. Since his school days, Zhong Risheng, 42, an anesthetist from Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has strongly believed in that approach It was no surprise that he managed to persuade his family to support his second trip to Africa as a member of a Chinese medical aid team organized by the government a year ago.

On his first trip to Africa from 2004 to 2006, he worked mostly in Zinder, Niger, and on the second trip, from 2012 to 2014, he is working in the archipelago island nation of Comoros, off the east coast of Africa.

He was awarded an outstanding doctor title by China's national health authority this year and took the opportunity to attend the award ceremony in November to visit home.

Zhong was a bachelor in 2004 when he left for that "unknown" continent.

"My mother was still in deep grief because my father had just died of an illness and my elder brother had died in an accident in 2002. It was not an easy decision for me to leave China," he says.

By the time of his second visit to Africa, Zhong was a husband and the father of a 2-year-old son.

"I owe my family so much," he says. "I appreciate my wife Zheng Qian's support and encouragement. She takes care of the whole extended family."

Zheng Qian, who is in her early 30s, says life without her husband can be difficult.

"Most children can go to play in the parks with their parents on weekends, but my son only has me by his side. That is the most uncomfortable time for me."

As a grassroots community civil servant, Zheng is very busy with her daily work, responding to local residents' complaints and mediating their disputes.

"I have to carry the family burdens as well," she says with tears in her eyes. "The first few months of his absence were the most difficult time. When I'd wake up in the middle of the night, and feel helpless."

Ling Chaoqing, Zhong's mother, is in her late 70s and suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

"I saw he was happy with his work," she says, "so I just let him go."

Many of his colleagues in China do not understand why Zhong chose to go to Africa a second time.

"During my first stay in Africa I saw how the people were short of doctors and medicine," he says.

"Because my friends and family don't know much about Africa, they naturally don't understand a doctor's decision to work there."

By the time of his second visit, Zhong had developed an even stronger sense of responsibility.

"The two trips will provide precious memories for the rest of my life. They've made my life more meaningful."

In Niger in 2005, he saw a child die from appendicitis.

"That child lived in a remote village and had stomach pain for a long time."

The girl was already in a coma when she was sent to the Zinder hospital where Zhong was working.

They found the poor girl's wizened abdominal cavity was full of sores and the appendicular perforation caused an infectious coma, circulatory failure and, finally, her death.

"That's what medical conditions in many parts of Africa are like and why we Chinese doctors should travel such a long way to work there," Zhong says.

The most difficult thing for Chinese doctors working in Africa is not the harsh living conditions, water shortages, frequent power failures and hot weather, but the problems they face adapting to the lack of equipment and medicines.

Zhong says he once put a thread of cotton under the nostril of a child in a coma to monitor the child's weak breath.

Most operations are inexpensive, but patients must pay for the anesthesia, medicines, the needles and tubes as well as anti-inflammatory drugs, which cost about $8 at a Zinder street market, a big amount for most poor patients.

As an anesthetist, the most heartbreaking scene for Zhong is when patients have to endure great pain because of the lack of anesthesia, and some also suffer from inflammation when they go home after an operation.

The anesthetic machine Zhong used was not airtight. The oxygen and anesthetic gases transmitted to the patients' lungs and the carbon dioxide exhaled by the patients were all transferred through the same tube and discharged from a half-open valve.

When he administered a general anesthetic, Zhong says he had to use one hand to press the breathing bag, while using the other hand to fasten the oxygen mask and lift the patient's jaw.

"I also had to lower my head and block the valve with my chin while supplying the oxygen and anesthetic gases in case of a leak," he says.

"I must have inhaled some anesthetic gases, but I had no choice. I had to ensure the safety of my patients."

The El-Marouf Hospital in Comoros was better than the one in Zinder, but there was only one local anesthetist in the regional hospital before Zhong's arrival. "There are no higher education institutions in medical sciences in the whole of Comoros," Zhong says.

"I think my experience and expertise are more valuable there than in Nanning.

"My hard work is greatly appreciated by the locals. I saw Nigerian and Comoros people's heart-felt hospitality and appreciation for our work."

On his way home after work, Zhong often met a Comoros mother carrying her baby of about 12 months. He always smiled to the shy mother and her child. To his surprise, one day the little boy burbled the Chinese greeting ni hao, ("hello" in English) to him.

"It was amazing and touching," Zhong says. "You can imagine my feelings at hearing such a little baby from such a different nation say ni hao to me even before he had learned his own language.

"Helping other people brings you true happiness that cannot be matched by the fleeting pleasures you get from material wealth and a comfortable life."

Zhong's role model is Norman Bethune, a volunteer Canadian thoracic surgeon who died of bacterial infection on his post in China in 1939 during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. "Bethune is a household name in China," Zhong says.

"I didn't expect I'd have a similar chance to help people in poor, undeveloped countries.

When Chinese people have an opportunity to help the less-developed African nations, we should not hesitate to do so, given our historical ties of brotherhood."

The Chinese government has sent nearly 20,000 doctors to 48 African countries and regions since 1963, when the Chinese economy was in a very difficult situation. About 50 Chinese doctors have died in Africa because of war and infectious diseases.

Zhong surprised other doctors when in 2010 he published the first documentary writing on Chinese doctors working in African towns.

The simple language, first-hand stories and sincere emotions between the lines turned the book into an immediate success among Chinese doctors, especially those returning from Africa.

Other doctors take the book with them when they go back to Africa.

Su Qiulan contributed to the story.

liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 12/06/2013 page28)