Health professionals working in remote Gansu province have found that altitude and lack of health awareness are factors that aggravate congenital heart disease, Fang Aiqing reports.

Medical experts taking part in a volunteer program in remote Northwest China are working with the local government and doctors to treat patients with congenital heart problems, an illness that continues to afflict many children and their families in the region.

A pair of twins under 2 years old were brought to the clinic of one local hospital.

One of the girls was plump and eagerly explored the room with her big eyes. The other child, however, was much thinner. Her lips and skin were visibly empurpled, and she stared into the distance with dazed eyes.

The latter was diagnosed with a complex congenital cardiac abnormality, for which the chances for corrective surgery seemed slim.

While a heart transplant remained a possibility, the procedure for a child was deemed so risky by doctors that it appeared to be "clutching at straws", says Chen Hao, a volunteer doctor.

Chen found it difficult to predict how long the sick infant would live. Even a common cold could deprive her of life.

"Assuming there were no other physical problems and with the correct daily medical care, the infant could live for up to a dozen years," says Chen, who was visiting the county hospital in Zhugqu, Gannan Tibet autonomous prefecture, Northwest China's Gansu province.