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DJIBOUTI,
(Xinhua) -- With local patients packed with a
temporary clinic in the midst of Djibouti’s humid weather,
sweats dropped down from the foreheads of Chinese doctors, who
were carefully treating villagers through traditional Chinese
medicine and modern therapy.
Having suffered long illness, these
villagers departed home very early on Sunday morning to stagger
through rough roads heading to the temporary clinic originally a
primary school in their village.
As the sun emerged to cast its warm
sheen over the village, Chinese doctors from a naval hospital
ship arrived to meet with local patients, bring free medical
services to those who finally saw the hope of recovery.
As they had learned the news about the
visit of Chinese physicians from “Peace Ark,” the villagers of
Doraleh, which is located in less than 10 km from the capital of
Djibouti, gathered in the clinic. Children also played among
those patients and their families, just eagerly waiting to see
strange foreigners,the Chinese physicians.
Earlier in the morning, Chinese
physicians from “Peace Ark” drove through rough roads with
dilapidated houses and listless pedestrians around them.
“There are more than 1,200 people
living in this village. They have no health clinic, and no
foreign medical workers come here, except people from the
United Nations agencies, who come here rarely to provide
humanitarian support such as food and water for the
villagers,” said Omar Farah Bader, the young village chief
who was working to maintain the order of patients.
Upon arriving, the Chinese physicians
quickly put their drugs and equipment in place and started to
treat the villagers who lined up for the generous help.
Those seriously ill patients took
their precedence to receive diagnosis and treatment. Among them
were those who walked on crutches or with the support of family
members. Most of them suffered pains of low back, legs and
shoulders among others.
After continuous working for five
hours, about 20 Chinese physicians hurried to finish their
simple lunch just for earlier returning to their intensive work,
by then the temperature had been rising up to more than 40
degrees centigrade.
“You can see that Djibouti weather is
very hot and humid, and a lot of people have no decent
houses. They sleep on the street and so many people here are
easily affected by arthritis,” said Zhang Yanzhao, a Chinese
doctor who alleviated patients’ pain with acupuncture and
cupping, traditional Chinese therapeutic approaches.
“Today there is a 12-year-old child,
he is so small and perplexed by arthritis, it is difficult
for him to walk,” said Zhang in a sad tone.
The land in the country, scorched by
the high temperatures, is most covered by sand. And due to bad
natural environment and low-level economic development, most
local people live a quite difficult living and many people have
no access to medical service after they fell ill.
The Chinese physicians also found that
eye diseases are popular seen among villagers.
Ophthalmologist Song Ping explained
that cataract and conjunctivitis are very common among local
people due to the windy weather, sand and strong ultraviolet ray
in the country.
Within a day, 200 to 300 villagers and
neighboring people came to the navy’s mobile clinic. Chinese
physicians also arranged a special bus to send those seriously
ill patients with more complex cases to the “Peace Ark” for
further treatment.
Omar said he has really been moved by
the hard work of the Chinese physicians.
“The Chinese physicians have done
everything here now, and the villagers will always remember
them and keep this in their hearts,” he said.
After a day-long medical services, the
Chinese physicians had to go back to their “Peace Ark” hospital.
As their vehicle was departing from the village, the villagers
were waving their hands for a long time to see the Chinese
physicians off, and the children were running around the car to
bid a farewell to those foreigners who were no longer strangers.
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