In November 2022, guided by the Health Commission of Yunnan Province, Mindray joined a medical team composed of professionals from different disciplines. Experts from top hospitals in Yunan and technicians from both the Population and Family Planning Institute of Yunnan Province and Gongshan County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, headed to the Hengduan Mountains to provide free clinics and health information lectures to residents in Dulong River Valley.
Lost horizon
This wild, unruly Dulong River flows from the towering snow peaks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, along the China-Myanmar border before surging into the dense forests in the Hengduan Mountains. The isolated river, which is crossed via rope bridges, has many rainbow-striped houses dotted along its banks.
In the misty mountains, a convoy of 10 off-road vehicles wound their way up a cliff road. The convoy had set off from Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, passing through Baoshan, then traversing the majestic Nujiang Grand Canyon, finally climbing the soaring Gaoligong Mountains to reach this secret place. The journey took them a full day and a half.
In the vehicles were professionals and technicians from Yunnan hospitals and health care organizations, who would be providing screening and diagnosis services over the course of the next week. They would also be giving treatment for common diseases such as congenital heart disease, scoliosis in children and adolescents, and reproductive system diseases, as well as organizing health information lectures.
Children grapple with a physical examination
When the bell rang to announce for the end of class, the Dulong River Township Central School started to buzz with excitement. The children's everyday games usually included jump rope, hide-and-seek, shuttlecock kicking, and chase and catch games. But today, they had a new activity. They were grouped by gender and class, then lined up to prepare for a physical examination in the small classroom beside the playground.
Using a portable ultrasound kept in a medical case, the medical staff screened the children's chests for congenital heart disease. The children peered at the screen, extremely curious to see what they looked like on the inside. Yunnan has a high rate of congenital heart disease in infants and young children, with about 30,000 new cases each year, accounting for one-fifth of the country's total. Among them, 50% of the children live in the remote mountainous areas with poor road connectivity and limited access to health information and resources. One person's illness will affect the whole family. The prohibitive cost of surgery has prevented some children getting the correct treatment in time. In keeping with the ethos of “Not One Less”, most of the Yunnan hospitals represented in the medical team have established a partnership with charity foundations, to provide free surgery for eligible children with congenital heart disease.
Row after row of students bowed at their teacher's command to accept scoliosis screening on the playground. Scoliosis often occurs in children and adolescents who are at the peak of growth and development, so the deformity can progress rapidly. If early detection and treatment is missed, the children may develop psychological conditions such as low self-esteem or even autism due to spinal deformities, seriously affecting their physical and mental health. Parents in rural areas have little knowledge of scoliosis; they don't realize that high or low shoulders, or hunchbacks, are actually caused by scoliosis. This free clinic offers a good opportunity for children in Dulong River to receive timely screening and treatment, so they don't miss out on the best treatment period.
After saying goodbye to the students from the Dulong River Township Central School, the medical team journeyed further. Led by village teachers, they drove down deep into the valley to visit more villages, Dizhengdang, Longyuan, Bapo, and Maku. During this trip, the team screened more than 6,000 students from 27 rural schools for congenital heart disease and scoliosis.
Nurturing a healthy next generation
If you stand in the small courtyard of the Dulong River Township Health Center and look up, you'll see the amazing sight of the surrounding mountains and valleys shrouded in blue mist. It is very quiet here for most of the year, with only the sound of chirping birds and rushing water to break the silence.
But the Health Center was bustling with activity on this particular morning, with many young couples queuing up for health checks. Under the direction of the team, the young couples were led to separate compartments for blood tests, consultation, physical examination, B-scan ultrasonography, and nutrition clinic. Here they received screening, diagnosis and treatment for common cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure, as well as common gynecological diseases (andrological diseases), bone and joint diseases, and infertility.
Living in a remote mountainous area, couples rarely have the opportunity to visit the county for pre-pregnancy and antenatal examination, which means they often miss the optimum time for examination and treatment. There was such excitement about the free clinic that many young couples got up early to make the journey into town. 163 women of childbearing age received B-scan ultrasonography, 24 of whom were diagnosed as infertile; 48 men had physical examinations, and 8 were diagnosed with infertility. The team performed family-based exome sequencing for women with primary infertility at no cost, and provided interventional prenatal diagnosis for a pregnant woman aged 32.
In addition to conducting free clinics at the Health Center, the team also went to villages to give health information lectures, educating local residents on sexual and reproductive health and lifestyle intervention skills, to help them promote both physical and mental health.
With footprints in every corner of the world
Over the years, Mindray has participated in many charitable programs, provided medical training, supported volunteer medical consultations, and offered cross-border medical assistance together with non-profit medical institutions, sharing their technology to make healthcare accessible to more people.
This is the first time Mindray medical devices have traveled into the depths of Dulong River, but it will not be the last. People in the river gorge lead a healthy life thanks to the beautiful natural environment and favorable climate. Mindray will continue to check in on their health status, and hope all the children grow up healthy and strong.