He Xinglong, a village doctor: It doesn't matter where you are a doctor, mainly to see where there is the most shortage of doctors

He Xinglong, a village doctor in Letang Village, Daning County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province, and deputy secretary of the village party branch

The Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee is scheduled to hold a meeting with Chinese and foreign journalists at 4 p.m. on Monday, September 27, 2021, where representatives of party members of the health system meet and exchange views with Chinese and foreign journalists around "everything for the health of the people". The following is a transcript of the scene:

Poster News Reporter: My question is to ask Dr. He Xinglong, as a rural doctor, you have guarded the health of more than 4,600 people in 28 villages for 21 years, rooted in the grassroots, served the grassroots, so that the masses can get medical services at their doorstep. Why did you choose to become a village doctor, and in your opinion, how has rural health care improved in recent years? Thank you.

He Xinglong: Thank you for the question, this has to start when I was a child. When I was a child, there was no professional doctor in the surrounding villages, and the villagers got sick, and they didn't see minor illnesses, so they went to the county hospital 70 miles away to see them. The key is that the family conditions of the villagers are more difficult, when I was 12 years old, my grandfather had a serious cold, the high fever did not go away, my parents sent my grandfather to the hospital, to the hospital has appeared respiratory failure, heart failure, the doctor said it was late. My grandfather left us soon after, and this incident touched me so much that I wondered if I could return to the village as a doctor when I grew up to see the villagers. In 1996, I was admitted to the health school, but the notice said that the tuition fee was more than 3,000 yuan, and my mother only had more than 302 yuan at home. When our family was ready to give up, the villagers and my mother said, "We are admitted to the health school, you can't afford it, everyone put together money to provide it together." I remember that after ten days, my tuition fee was 3025 yuan. At that time, I said that I must learn medical skills well, come back to see the villagers, and repay the kindness of the villagers to me. For more than 20 years, I have had feelings for the people in the surrounding villages, and I feel that it does not matter where I am a doctor, the most important thing is to see where there is the lack of doctors. Because there is too little shortage of doctors in that area, I have to stay and see the people. In the past, students graduating from colleges and universities were reluctant to return to the countryside, and in recent years, the village has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the next step is to revitalize the countryside, and the countryside will be more beautiful and harmonious in the future. General Secretary Xi Jinping has said to college students that youth is used to struggle, and youth in the future is used to remember. I think it doesn't matter if young people suffer a little or get tired, the general secretary also instructed our young cadres to walk, see, and do a job in the countryside, and they should go to the most difficult and poor places to exercise. I think that the countryside is a place to cultivate and train talents, and I hope that in the future, some graduates of colleges and universities will return to the countryside, and the rural areas are too in need of doctors, especially general practitioners. I think society should pay more attention to the group of rural doctors. Thank you.