The Jian Hua Foundation (JHF) is an international charitable organisation dedicated to serving the peoples of China. 'Jian Hua' means 'Build China'. JHF believes in service with professional integrity and seeks, through our programs, and through those we introduce to China, to demonstrate practical Christian love. Founded in 1981 and based in Hong Kong, JHF has about 150 employees. It is registered with the government's State Administration for Foreign Expert Affairs in Beijing as an approved overseas organisation for recruiting professionals.
This summer JHF Medical Services completed the second of a trinity of four-week spot medical programmes in China's Qinghai province. Having received funding from one of the large trusts in Hong Kong, JHF have been able to sponsor these diverse medical projects which have included teaching village doctors and nurses, donating equipment for primary investigations and administering professional health care.
Qinghai province is located on the Tibetan plateau in the Northwest of China. The capital city Xining is the only large city, with a population of around 800 000, (the total population of the province being only around 4 million). At least one million of these would be nomadic tent dwellers living in the grasslands some 14000 feet above sea level. For that reason only about one third of the people are actually Hali Chinese. The other ethnic groups being Mongols, Tibetans, Hui and Kazakhs.
The two summer projects have, so far, been extremely successful attracting global interest with a team of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists spending two to four weeks of their own vacations to join the venture in the summers of 1999 and 2000. The summer medical programme was a continuation of already established links with two government clinics: one in the township of Guide and the other in Zeku. The medical team spent two weeks in each locality.
After assembly and orientation in Xining the team carried out lectures and seminars during the first weeks of each attachment and teaching clinics during the second weeks. JHF had purchased both clinics a range of diagnostic equipment, such as an ECG machine, gastroscope and ultrasound. And so some of the teaching fell around the use of these investigations.
The emphasis in each of the rural clinics was very much on teaching and training doctors to raise their level of clinical skills. This was imperative to have a long lasting effect and to continue already existing relationships with these clinics. The alternative; to simply see as many patients as possible in a short space of time and for us to carry out the medical care, was seen to be a less attractive option.
From a medical point of view there was much about the initiative that was satisfactory. One example was the introduction of triple therapy for helicobactor pylori eradication. Such a simple intervention which was straightforward to teach and inexpensive to administer was effective in both alleviating suffering and intensifying the knowledge base of local doctors. The physiotherapists were also able to offer invaluable teaching regarding back-pain management and pain relieving methods for chronic arthritis.
There are many problems facing this type of work. Lack of funding locally for the government clinics puts great pressure on local doctors. In a majority of cases there is neither the money to be able to afford equipment nor for the patients to afford use of it. China now has a virtually entirely private medical service. This coupled with the fact that doctors are expected to supplement their salary by 25% through drug prescribing, leads to extremely pressured working conditions. However, during our visit, medical and community morale was raised as well as the level of clinical skills.
The JHF summer medical programmes are part of a larger vision for this particularly poor part of China. By establishing links with the two village clinics in particular, JHF hope to establish long term relationships with the local health bureau in both these areas as well as centrally, in Xining. We are therefore considering setting up a Medical Training Centre in Xining. This centre would provide residential medical training for village and township doctors who otherwise would not have access to such training. JHF Director for Medical Services, Dr. Stephen Wang and his team are currently assessing this and other possible long-term plans.
The summer medical programme is to be repeated in June 2001, and recruitment is already underway. UK health professionals and students in their final years are invited to apply for this exciting initiative by contacting the UK Medical Representative. The same two clinics will be visited in an effort to build further on the teaching and relationships from the previous two years.
Douglas Noble
United Kingdom Medical Representative
Jian Hua Foundation Medical Services
In the UK please send applications with CV to:
Douglas Noble
5th Year Clinical Medicine
Green College
University of Oxford
Woodstock Road
Oxford OX2 6HG
douglas.noble@green.ox.ac.uk
This summer JHF Medical Services completed the second of a trinity of four-week spot medical programmes in China's Qinghai province. Having received funding from one of the large trusts in Hong Kong, JHF have been able to sponsor these diverse medical projects which have included teaching village doctors and nurses, donating equipment for primary investigations and administering professional health care.
Qinghai province is located on the Tibetan plateau in the Northwest of China. The capital city Xining is the only large city, with a population of around 800 000, (the total population of the province being only around 4 million). At least one million of these would be nomadic tent dwellers living in the grasslands some 14000 feet above sea level. For that reason only about one third of the people are actually Hali Chinese. The other ethnic groups being Mongols, Tibetans, Hui and Kazakhs.
The two summer projects have, so far, been extremely successful attracting global interest with a team of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists spending two to four weeks of their own vacations to join the venture in the summers of 1999 and 2000. The summer medical programme was a continuation of already established links with two government clinics: one in the township of Guide and the other in Zeku. The medical team spent two weeks in each locality.
After assembly and orientation in Xining the team carried out lectures and seminars during the first weeks of each attachment and teaching clinics during the second weeks. JHF had purchased both clinics a range of diagnostic equipment, such as an ECG machine, gastroscope and ultrasound. And so some of the teaching fell around the use of these investigations.
The emphasis in each of the rural clinics was very much on teaching and training doctors to raise their level of clinical skills. This was imperative to have a long lasting effect and to continue already existing relationships with these clinics. The alternative; to simply see as many patients as possible in a short space of time and for us to carry out the medical care, was seen to be a less attractive option.
From a medical point of view there was much about the initiative that was satisfactory. One example was the introduction of triple therapy for helicobactor pylori eradication. Such a simple intervention which was straightforward to teach and inexpensive to administer was effective in both alleviating suffering and intensifying the knowledge base of local doctors. The physiotherapists were also able to offer invaluable teaching regarding back-pain management and pain relieving methods for chronic arthritis.
There are many problems facing this type of work. Lack of funding locally for the government clinics puts great pressure on local doctors. In a majority of cases there is neither the money to be able to afford equipment nor for the patients to afford use of it. China now has a virtually entirely private medical service. This coupled with the fact that doctors are expected to supplement their salary by 25% through drug prescribing, leads to extremely pressured working conditions. However, during our visit, medical and community morale was raised as well as the level of clinical skills.
The JHF summer medical programmes are part of a larger vision for this particularly poor part of China. By establishing links with the two village clinics in particular, JHF hope to establish long term relationships with the local health bureau in both these areas as well as centrally, in Xining. We are therefore considering setting up a Medical Training Centre in Xining. This centre would provide residential medical training for village and township doctors who otherwise would not have access to such training. JHF Director for Medical Services, Dr. Stephen Wang and his team are currently assessing this and other possible long-term plans.
The summer medical programme is to be repeated in June 2001, and recruitment is already underway. UK health professionals and students in their final years are invited to apply for this exciting initiative by contacting the UK Medical Representative. The same two clinics will be visited in an effort to build further on the teaching and relationships from the previous two years.
Douglas Noble
United Kingdom Medical Representative
Jian Hua Foundation Medical Services
In the UK please send applications with CV to:
Douglas Noble
5th Year Clinical Medicine
Green College
University of Oxford
Woodstock Road
Oxford OX2 6HG
douglas.noble@green.ox.ac.uk
