"Hello, China", the sweetest words I heard abroad

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Xu Yi
Time
2019-09-29 17:43:47


Liu Yahua (F, L), associate chief physician at the Third Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, treats a victim during a medical visit to a tsunami-hit area in Indonesia in 2005. (81.cn/Photo by Wu Min)

Liu Yahua, associate chief physician at the Third Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital: My story begins with the most impressive New Year’s Eve in my life. It was just after 4 a.m. on January 1, 2005, when I was awakened by the drizzling rain. A few hours ago my colleagues and I slept with our clothes on at the Banda Aceh International Airport in Indonesia.

A few days earlier, on December 26, 2004, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake broke out in the near shore of Aceh province, west Indonesia and caused a tsunami, endangering lots of local residents.

I was then sent to Aceh province by the China International Search and Rescue (CISAR) to perform rescue mission there, which was the first time that CISAR assigned female members overseas and also the first time for myself to perform an overseas mission as a CISAR member.

I began to work with CISAR from 2003, the year I graduated and was assigned to the former General Hospital of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force as an emergency physician. One day when I was on night duty, a hospital leader responsible for medical relief work was making ward rounds, and when he asked if I would like to join the CISAR, I replied a firm yes without a second thought.

On December 31, 2004, after the tsunami hit Indonesia, we CISAR members arrived at the Polonia International Airport and were flown to the Banda Aceh airport right away by a Hercules transport plane. Given limited conditions, we had to sleep at the airport that night.

Our rescue work began at the airport, where my colleagues and I walked around with our medical backpacks to treat the victims gathering there. The orange uniform on us was very striking in the crowds, and more victims gathered around asking for treatment, which filled us with a strong sense of being needed. Being away from China, I understood more deeply the heavy responsibility on our shoulders.

Later we were divided into several groups and assigned to seriously-hit regions to provide medical relief. I would never forget what I saw on the way. Most houses were toppled, victims who lost their families were homeless and miserable, and the once clear rivers were filled with wooden boards, straws and bloating bodies of men and livestock...

When arriving at a local hospital with a colleague, I saw a lot of search notices posted by the locals on the two sides of the gate, and the hospital was so packed with the injured that the doctors and nurses were having their hands full. So my colleague and I set about treating injuries for a victim immediately.

There, I came across a severe wound never seen before. It was so seriously infected that the bone and muscle tendon had been revealed, and his skin and fat were festering due to untimely treatment. “Faster! Faster!” That was all I could think then, and I didn’t waste a single second clearing and disinfecting the wound and wrapping it up with medicine.

Many local children often came to play around our barracks, and having become familiar with us, they had all learnt to say “Ni hao, zhongguo! (Hello, China)”. Whenever I heard that, I couldn’t help feeling proud as I had never been before - we came here on behalf of China, and here we had not only saved lives, but also passed on China’s kindness to the whole world.

On October 8, 2005, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit the northwest border of Pakistan and the Kashmir region under its control, and I embarked on another journey of international relief. On October 10, I finally arrived at the hardest-hit Balakot after nearly a whole day’s travel on the way.

“Chinese doctor” was how those Pakistani victims called every member in our medical team.

One time I was out on a round with several male doctors and came across some injured women. I offered to check their injuries but they seemed reluctant at first. I suddenly realized that they might have mistaken me for a male doctor too because I had cut my hair short after returning home from Indonesia last time. So I took off my mask and they nodded immediately and took me to their tents. Word soon spread that there was a female doctor in the Chinese medical team, and more women came to our “female consulting room” for medical treatment.

After the phased relief work was completed and we were packing up our equipment and getting ready to leave, an old Pakistani was carried to our tent. He was severely dehydrated after being trapped for days without water and food, and was in urgent need for emergency fluid infusion, but his external veins were shriveled. We immediately gave him fluid infusion using the equipment that wasn’t packed yet, and contacted a local agency to transfer the patient to another hospital.

As a medical worker, it is my duty and mission to save lives, and joining international relief on behalf of China has made this mission more sacred. I feel extremely proud and grateful for being a member of CISAR.

(Interviewed and organized by Zhang Dan, Sun Yi and correspondent Zhang Jing)

 

Related News

Continue...