As the director of the cardiovascular surgery department at Chongqing General Hospital, one of the top-tier hospitals in Chongqing, he was one of more than 100 doctors from all over China taking part in the "China-hearts" volunteer medical program in the rural county from July 9 to 11.

According to the organizers, the program was initiated in 2008 following the Wenchuan earthquake by a group of high-end medical experts in Beijing. Since 2010, the program has been under the guidance of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. And it has been organizing short-term volunteer health services for the past 10 years, mainly in the Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces, as well as in the Tibet autonomous region.

During the two-and-a-half day program, Chen and three other volunteer doctors saw around 50 children with congenital heart problems at the county hospital, says Li Wenjuan, a local health department official.

Two of the sick children were deemed in urgent need of surgery. Eight were identified as requiring surgical treatment as soon as possible, in order to make the best recovery. Some of the other patients had already gone through surgery and were having a follow-up consultation.

Another three young patients with congenital heart problems were diagnosed at Zhongzang Hospital in Lianghekou township of Zhugqu county, according to Yu Cuirong and Ma Shurong, two other volunteer doctors participating in the program.

The condition of one of the patients had progressed beyond the point where surgery could offer a cure.