Doctor Deng Shengming has a meeting with his colleagues at Medog's county hospital. Liu Xiangrui / China Daily

Early struggles

He worked in the township clinic for three years. Conditions were very primitive. The thatched houses' wooden floors were full of holes, Deng's most sophisticated medical device was a stethoscope.

"Those were terrible days," says Deng, though he is now able to recall the past with a smile.

Besides working at the clinic, Deng had to make regular rounds to different villages. It often took days on mountain roads to reach some remote villages, and there were dangers including landslides and falling debris.

Deng says he once almost fell into a deep valley while walking on a mountain path.

"But the saddest thing for me was to see my patients die and as a doctor I couldn't even diagnose their diseases," Deng says.

Most doctors in Medog then had limited medical knowledge and facilities and medical services were seriously behind the national standard, Deng recalls.

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