Beijing physician ushers in advances

Physicians at the dental department of the People's Hospital in the Tibet autonomous region are grateful for the contributions made by Chen Li, an Aid-Tibet physician, and for the changes he has ushered in over the past two years.

"Mr Chen has worked very hard on the development of our department. He is the most capable and most responsible Aid-Tibet cadre I have ever met," said Tsering Khadro, a doctor in the department.

An associate professor and associate chief physician from the Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Chen has been working in Tibet since June 2020.

"When I first read the notice from the central government asking our hospital for a prosthodontist to take part in the Aid-Tibet program, I applied immediately," Chen said. "I think that was partly because I had been inspired by the medics who rushed to Wuhan to fight against the first COVID-19 outbreaks in early 2020."

The Aid-Tibet medical aid program has been responsible for helping to train medical staff and improve treatment in the Tibet autonomous region since it was launched in 2015.

As a result, many medical professionals, including Tsering Khadro, have been able to improve their skills and most serious diseases can now be treated locally, which has helped save thousands of lives.

As the chief expert on the Aid-Tibet medical expert team, Chen was initially supposed to serve for a year, but at the encouragement of the hospital and his colleagues, decided to extend his stay for an additional year.

In that time, he has helped raise the department to a higher level.

One of the changes Chen has introduced is to the department's management regulations, and the optimization of the dental implanting process.

"We have standardized the processes to meet those of the Peking University School and the Hospital of Stomatology," he said. "We also purchased a multifunctional ECG monitor to improve examinations, and have instituted periodontal treatment before operations.

"We ensure blood pressure is properly monitored during operations, and that detailed medical and follow-up advice is given to patients after their operations," he added.

Chen said that residual departmental weaknesses included insufficient space for stomatology work, understaffing and that some existing equipment was old and needed replacing.

He gives lectures to the doctors once a week, during which he has taught about topics including fixed prostheses, oral aesthetics and oral implants.

"This year, I have arranged for every young doctor and intern to present lectures. I want to fortify their learning and teaching abilities, and to encourage young doctors to accumulate case data so that they can exchange information with each other," he said.

"Aid-Tibet medics come and go every year, but I think the most important thing is for us to train more professionals, so that there are always expert medical teams stationed in the region."