Healing the sick in the mountains

A team of 'basket doctors' are making a difference in a remote part of Yunnan province Bingzhongluo town is located in the Gongshan Derung and Nu autonomous county, in Nujiang Lisu autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province.

Guan Yanping (left) and Lin Xiang walk back and forth on the rural road in Bingzhongluo town to do health checkups for the villagers. Photos by Zhang Ziwang and Zheng Yijian / Nanfang Daily

Even today, with good roads, it takes two and a half days for the 2,000-kilometer ride from there to Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

More than two years ago, Guan Yanping went from the Sanzhao Hospital in Jinwan district, Zhuhai, to help the poor there. She and her companions carried medical equipment and medicines, climbed cliffs, crossed the Nujiang River, and walked to 46 villages scattered in the deep mountain valley. They are called "basket doctors" by the locals.

Guan Yanping examines a patient with severe mental illness.

The medicines in Guan's basket can "solve" many problems. Not afraid of high mountains and water bodies, Guan trudges up to the locals' medical needs.

With her work, Guan has earned the trust of the people and they confide in their "kin" from Guangdong.

The aid team are "inseparable" and Guan and her companions "can't let go" either.

Speaking about her work, Guan says: "I haven't written a diary for a long time."

On the evening of Aug 17, Guan again recalled her pledge made last year: I volunteered to dedicate myself to the cause of human health ... respecting life, saving the wounded ...

The story by Nanfang Daily writer Cao Si, Huang Changkai and Chen Jiesheng is translated by Zhang Lei.

Editor: John Li