Hardwork Changes Realities

Now the ophthalmological center has been established, team leader Lu Jianlin and other members are working hard to turn Mnazi Mmoja Hospital into an ICU Center, a Minimally Invasive Surgery Center and a Smile Project Center (Cleft Lip Repair Center).

The Smile Project helps children born with a cleft lip and palate. One out of every 800-1,000 children born in Zanzibar Island is born with a lip-palate cleft. Once he arranged an operation for a child in the following week, but the child didn’t come back for it. A local doctor surmised that it might be due to economic pressure in the family. After this, the medical team applied for a Smile Train Program in the hope that it would finance the doctors who wanted to cure those children. Ever since that incident Li Huaiqi has collected the clinical data and contact information of the patients, so when the application was approved, he could find the patient in time.

Li Huaiqi recounted that he recently met a one-week-old child born with a fused lip and tongue, and such a case had never been reported in China. This was one that could not be covered by the Smile Project. He explained, “To help him, money was not the crucial issue. There’s a shortage of doctors, medicines, and relevant medical equipment. To perform an operation on such a young child, we need the coordination of many departments, and we need an excellent anesthetist and advanced anesthetic equipment. Without an ICU, post-operative care would be terribly troublesome.”

It’s very urgent to establish an ICU. As chief physician Xu Xiao said, most patients in an ICU are critically ill, so much investment is needed. “The conditions and level of medical care on Zanzibar Island are far from satisfactory, and there is lack of medical care awareness in general. Relatives and friends will abandon therapy for the dying patient. To some extent, the ICU exactly reflects the medical sophistication of a hospital.” “It is risky if the patient is sent directly back to a regular ward from the operating room. An ICU between the two is actually setting up the whole post-operative recovery system.”

Pastimes

Going to the seaside is one of the few pastimes on the island. The international call that may cost RMB 19 per minute seems a luxury for the medical team members. So they choose to chat and see their families on the Internet.

They always joke that what they have the most of, at the moment, is time. So they write about their work and life there, and compile articles for a team E-newsletter. It’s quite plain-looking, but records the lives of team members. Li Xiaobing made some videos as well and some have been broadcast on Suzhou TV.

The day of our interview with Doctor Ouyang was the anniversary of his mother’s death. He was withdrawn and, we assumed, feeling sad. His wife called him at noon, and told him she and their daughter had gone back to their hometown for the family commemoration. Hearing that, he was in tears.

Because of the shortage of vegetables on the island, the team members make do with very simple fare. The dried mushrooms and the liquor they brought from their hometown are for guests.

For the short-term traveler, Zanzibar Island is a good choice. The ancient Stone Town is highly recommended, and the beautiful east coast beaches are matched by crystal clear waters, which are sometimes a consolation to China’s brave and dedicated medical team who are far away from their hometown and families.