Doctors with the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University are hailed as role models of the times for curing more than 1200 children with congenital heart disease. Let’s take a close look.
Congenital heart disease ranks first among all birth defects in China. In 2014, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University decided to establish a cardiovascular center. Young cardiologist Li Qingguo was tasked with the dream of establishing a "unique cardiology" by leading a group of four young colleagues.
“When I started working here back then, as soon as I heard the sirens of ambulances, I immediately lost my drowsiness and was able to enter a state of emergency for medical treatment. I really wanted to do something at that time”, Shao Jun, Chief Physician of Cardiovascular Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, said.
“For over 100 days a year, I have to go to the hospital at night to perform surgeries on patients. It was already midnight when the patient was sent to the hospital, but you must go immediately without any reason. Regardless of whether the home is busy or not, you must let go of all the things at hand”, Lu Xiang, Former Vice President of Nanjing Medical University and former Dean of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, said.
With exquisite medical skills and hard work day after day, the cardiovascular center has won accolade among the patients.
Shortly after its establishment, the Cardiovascular Center received a 9-month-old child named Chenchen who suffered from severe ventricular septal defect that could be life-threatening if not surgically occluded immediately.
But the surgery cost of 30000 yuan left Chenchen's mother at a loss. The medical staff raised 23000 yuan in medical expenses for Chenchen, and the remaining expenses were waived by the Second Affiliated Hospital.
“I really appreciate the doctors. Without them, the child would have been ruined for a lifetime”, Zhao Ling, Chenchen’s mother, said.
The local media carried reports on the story of Chenchen being cured. A person who did not want to be named contacted the hospital and offered to donate funds to treat 10 children with congenital heart disease, which deeply moved Li Qingguo.
“It occurred to us that since so many kind-hearted people are pulling together for the children with congenital heart disease, as doctors, we can do more”, Li Qingguo, Vice President of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, said.
With the strong support of the hospital Party Committee, medical staff at the cardiovascular center have launched the "Heart Blessing Project" to care for children with congenital heart disease from families in need.
In order to enable more children with congenital heart disease to be "detected and treated early", the medical team for congenital heart disease also visited impoverished areas in northern Jiangsu to provide free screening in a bid to help children with congenital heart disease from disadvantaged families regain their lives.
Over the past decade, the "Heart Blessing Project" has conducted more than 400 free screenings for approximately 80000 people in northern Jiangsu and cured over 600 children with congenital heart disease.
