Visiting medics help Tibetans live the high life

Rising life expectancy

According to the most recent data from the National Health Commission, the average life expectancy of people in Tibet is 70.6 years, a giant leap from the 35.5 years recorded in the 1960s.

Wang Yunting, deputy director of the regional health commission, said the influx of medical professionals has greatly eased the strain on resources in the region, where a shortage of doctors and nurses, limited provision of medication, and outdated treatment methods have driven down standards.

For example, Kongpo'gyada has just one county-level hospital, a three-story, lime-shaded building covering 22,000 square meters, located at its center.

For many years, the hospital was so poorly equipped that operations could not be performed on-site. However, in 2017, a group of experienced doctors arrived from Zhongshan, Guangdong province, about 3,300 kilometers away in South China.

Chosang, 30, a surgeon at the hospital, beamed as he recalled the first operation performed in the county, an appendectomy. At the time, he was a resident at a clinic in a small village nestled deep in the mountains.

"News that the first six or seven operations at the county hospital had been successful spread quickly and pumped up the spirits of those of us who worked in grassroots healthcare," he said, adding that the surgeries boosted the local healthcare network.

Last year alone, more than 300 operations were performed at the county hospital, mostly appendectomies and removals of kidney and gallbladder stones, according to Chosang, who like many Tibetans only uses one name.

"There are two other surgeons at the hospital capable of performing these operations. It's a rather small team, but we have coped fine so far," he said.

Gong Xionghui, associate chief physician at Peking University's Shougang Hospital in Beijing, also joined the two-day medical assistance program at the hospital in Kongpo'gyada.

He said that given the poor equipment and low staffing levels at the county hospital, a sensible approach would be to allow easy-to-master surgical techniques to take root there, while more-complex cases are sent to larger hospitals in other prefectures.

"I believe that surgical departments at county-level hospitals in Tibet should first and foremost address acute and prevalent health issues. In Kongpo'gyada, they have clearly achieved this goal," Gong said.