650 million. 1.44 million.

The first is the current rural population in China and the second is the corresponding number of rural doctors.

Last night, at the Yabuli Summer Summit in Qingdao, we held the "Ceremony for Top 10 Warm-Hearted Rural Doctors and Township Hospital Directors in Health China 2020". We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Chen Dongsheng who was present last night, as well as our rural doctor protectors Huang Bo, LV Siqing, Xu Gehui, Li Guangjie, and other friends. We granted honors to 21 rural doctors and hospital directors from Yunnan, Hubei, Xinjiang and other national poverty-stricken counties. We hope that more people can hear their stories, learn more about rural doctors, and care about rural medical services.

During the ceremony last night, I was particularly impressed by the stories of two rural doctors:

1. "Lighter doctor" on horseback

The first doctor was Li Yuzhong, who is known more commonly to the people as the "lighter doctor". Doctor Li works in Bibo Village, Panzhihua Town, Yuanyang County, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province. The task to provide basic medical care for 2,712 people of 588 households in the village rests on his shoulders. The village is surrounded by mountains, and flowing debris and landslides often occur after it rains, so his only feasible option to provide medical services to the people was to ride a horse. In his 13 years as a doctor, he has changed horses several times. During these 13 years, Doctor Li never powered off his mobile phone as he felt he could save lives at critical moments if people could reach him via his mobile phone. Li Yuzhong gave his phone number to many elderly people, but it was easy for them to lose it as they often put the paper with his phone number written on in their pocket. So, Doctor Li ordered cigarette lighters with his name and phone number printed on them. When the elderly people came to visit him, he would give them a lighter. Since then, everyone in the area knew Li Yuzhong as the "lighter doctor". There were originally no roads on the mountains, but roads eventually formed after the many trips made by Li Yuzhong and his horses through the mountains.

2. One thermometer, one person, and one village

The second doctor is He Fen.  It is a pity that Doctor He lost her entire left leg due to cancer, which means she must rely on crutches or her artificial limb to walk around every day. During the pandemic, Doctor He needed to perform specific publicity task, visits, temperature measurements, and checkups for 690 people in the village. Due to limited conditions in the countryside, Doctor He needed to visit the villagers at their home one by one to measure their body temperature with a mercury thermometer. This simple checkup took three days. As this period coincided with winter, it was snowy, dark, and slippery. We do not know how much Doctor He suffered in the process, but we could see how seriously she took her responsibilities to provide care for the villagers.

I am a child from a rural area. Many of us received help from rural doctors when we were young.  I remember that I had acute hepatitis when I was about six years old, before I started going to primary school. At that time, there was no way I could go to a large hospital, but the rural doctor in Hengdian, Zhejiang Province, cured me with anti-inflammatory drugs and local medicines. Since the reform and opening up, China’s overall medical industry and medical conditions have improved greatly, but rural areas are still far behind urban areas in terms of medical conditions. The original intention of launching the "Rural Doctors" program was to unite all forces and protect more "rural doctors".

To solve the problem of poor people in China, the first thing to do is to solve their medical issues. This year is also a key year for us to alleviate poverty. Only by improving the system of rural medical care and rural doctors can we truly eliminate poverty. For a long time, rural doctors have faced issues such as simple equipment and inadequate remuneration, especially since the majority of rural doctors are not covered by the "public foundation system", lack basic financial guarantees, and are paid a remuneration much lower than that of rural teachers covered by the public foundation system. As a result, there are fewer and fewer rural doctors in the countryside, and there is now a shortage of successors. For example, many of our rural doctors have been working for 30 or 40 years and have been protecting the health of the villagers in their whole life. However, many young people, including their children, are unable to stay as rural doctors because they do not make enough money to support themselves. A healthy China is inseparable from the healthy countryside, and I sincerely hope that more friends can join our "Rural Doctors" health poverty alleviation program. I would also like to thank all entrepreneurs who donated the first aid kits yesterday, including Mr. Chen Dongsheng, Ai Luming, Ding Jian and Xu Gehui as a couple, Ding Liguo, Han Dan, Lu Liming, Xuan Ruiguo, Yan Zhi, and Zhang Ligang. I would also like to thank Qiao Yuanxu, Tao Shiquan, Zhang Hongmei, Chen Xianbao, Lu Xibiao, Tian Yuan, Wang Chaofeng, and Wu Weiping for their love and support. We hope that our efforts will help more rural doctors and more rural patients, solve the problems faced by poor people who have difficulty in receiving medical services, and contribute to the improvement of rural medical care.

END