Looking after Zhongnanhai

Wang Binhe (left) served as the physician of Chairman Mao Zedong from 1949-54.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The responsibilities of being a leader's physician are highlighted in a reprinted book, Xing Yi reports.

The Health Guards Behind the Red Wall is a reprinted book, which is based on the verbal accounts of some physicians who took care of Chinese leaders, including the personal doctor of Mao Zedong, New China's founding father.

The death of a Chinese leader, Ren Bishi, from cerebral hemorrhage in October 1950, led to the creation of a special healthcare facility in the leadership compound of Zhongnanhai in Beijing.

Fu Lianzhang, one of the few Western-trained doctors who served in the Red Army in the 1930s, was appointed the first head of the healthcare unit, which was tasked with taking care of about 93 leaders, including all members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and other top government officials.

At the beginning, the unit had limited medical staff and resources. Many physicians had to work both as doctors and nurses. The process of selecting medical personnel was also very strict－doctors and nurses not only needed top professional skills, but also had to be loyal to the government and the country.

The book quotes Fu as telling his staff: "The security guards keep leaders safe, and our responsibility is to protect the leaders' health. We are their health guards."

During their service in the healthcare facility, Fu and his colleagues complied with a set of confidentiality rules under which they couldn't associate with people outside their scope of work or reveal their work content even to their immediate families, and when their terms of service ended, they were not allowed to contact the leaders directly.

Because of the nature of their work, many physicians had established close personal friendships with the leaders they attended.

Wang Binhe served Chairman Mao from 1949-54, as his first official physician.