Hearing Lin Sanqi's sudden question, County Magistrate Jin was not at all panicked. Instead, he smiled and replied:
"Minister Lin, you may not know this. Our Andu County is officially called the Andu Yao Autonomous County. 70% of the county's population is ethnic minority, so policies are relatively liberal and not as strict as in big cities.
We are already poor enough here. We have no industry and agricultural production is not good either. It is no exaggeration to describe us as extremely poor.
Minister Lin, you have also seen that our Andu County is full of mountains.
The key point is that this mountain belongs to karst landform. The whole county is full of depressions and rocky mountains. The area of rocky mountains accounts for 90% of the total area, and the per capita arable land is less than half an acre.
It's too difficult to support a family with just half an acre of land. If we don't allow ethnic minorities to engage in small businesses, ordinary people won't even be able to afford salt, and this will lead to chaos."
Lin Sanqi understood.
Areas where ethnic minorities gather are often deep in the mountains and forests, where conditions are the most difficult.
If we don't give them special care and make a concession, ordinary people won't be able to make a living and society will become unstable.
When people are poor, they seek change. For the common people along the coast, that means going to Southeast Asia or Europe to make a living.
"It's good to be able to do business, even if it's a small business, haha."
Lin Sanqi felt more at ease now. As long as he could do small business, he would not starve to death. If he got sick, spending a few cents or dollars would not be a big problem.
This solved the problem of barefoot doctors’ income source.
Even if you don't have money, there are plenty of cute little animals in these vast mountains, such as wild rabbits, pheasants, and wild goats. One of them is enough to pay for medical expenses and medicine.
After walking a few hundred meters, they arrived in front of a dilapidated temple with a cross hanging at the door.
County Magistrate Jin pointed and introduced:
"Minister Lin, this is our Andu County Hospital, and it's currently the only hospital in the county. It used to be the county's City God Temple, but it was converted into a hospital after liberation."
Lin Sanqi had already seen the sign next to it and thought that temples these days were really in trouble. They were either converted into schools or hospitals.
Because no prior notice was given, the counterfeiting incident in Lintong County, Shaanxi Province did not occur.
After Lin Sanqi entered the yard, he found that there were quite a few patients, all of whom were groaning.
You can even see a lot of simple stretchers made of bamboo chairs, which are obviously people who came from the towns and villages below to seek medical treatment.
County Magistrate Jin called out to the room several times, "Old Dan, Old Dan!"
Then I saw an old man in his 60s hurriedly running out of the house.
Lin Sanqi took a look and saw that he was wearing glasses, a worn Mao suit, and barefoot. He didn't look like the director of a county hospital at all.
The other deans were all intellectuals, and they were eager to put three or four pens in their breast pockets to show their status.
Shan Guangming ran into the yard and saw that it was the county boss, so he nodded and said:
"County Magistrate Jin, why are you here? Are you feeling unwell?"
County Magistrate Jin quickly introduced, "Old Dan, this is Deputy Minister Lin Sanqi from the capital. He's the inventor of the anti-tuberculosis quadruple therapy you mentioned last time."
When Shan Guangming heard this, his eyes lit up and he quickly stretched out his hand:
"So you are Minister Lin. Nice to meet you. I didn't even receive any advance notice and was completely unprepared. Oh, sorry, my hands are so dirty."
After the two separated their hands, some black sticky substance remained on Lin Sanqi's hand.
Lin Sanqi twitched his lips. Doctors tend to be a bit mysophobic, but it was definitely not the right time to show it. Instead, he pretended to be relaxed and said,
"Hello, Dean Shan, you are treating a patient. What's that on your hand, a dog-skin plaster?"
The black sticky substance had a strong smell, so Lin Sanqi certainly didn't suspect it was a pile of shit.
Shan Guangming said embarrassedly:
"Yes, a patient fell down the mountain. I was making a plaster for him, but I forgot about it in my excitement. Hehe."
Lin Sanqi nodded and asked again:
"Director Shan, I came to Andu County to conduct research. I'd like to ask, how many doctors are there in the county now? How many ordinary people are there?"
Shan Guangming looked around the room and gritted his teeth and said:
"Minister Lin, I still have a patient here. I'll report to you after I'm done."
Lin Sanqi quickly put his hands together and apologized:
"Oh, sorry, please go see the doctor right away. Patients come first."
Shan Guangming ran into the room again. Lin Sanqi looked around the county hospital and found that it was just an ordinary courtyard house with a small area.
But there were quite a few patients, almost filling up the yard, with at least 30 people on the scene.
Minister Jin was still blaming Dan Guangming for being stubborn. The big boss was coming to inspect, so why didn't he just hand the patient over to other doctors? Why did he run away?
So I took the initiative to help introduce:
"Minister Lin, there are currently 180,000 people in Andu County, and we have six doctors... all of whom were originally recruited from the county's local doctors. This includes Dr. Shan Guangming, who is an orthopedic surgeon inherited from his ancestors. The Shan family is quite famous in Andu."
More than ten minutes later, Shan Guangming came over again and invited everyone to the dean's office.
It's called an office, but it's actually just a room that looks like a stilt house. It's made entirely of wood, with a few bamboo chairs and a wooden desk that's probably wobbly.
Dean Shan personally made a few cups of tea and came over:
"Dean Lin, this is wild tea leaves we picked at home. There are no good things in the countryside. Please have some tea."
Lin Sanqi didn't take it seriously. He had experienced even more difficult conditions during the three years of natural disasters, and nothing was more difficult than what he had experienced back then.
"Dean Shan, what's the condition of the patient you just treated?"
Shan Guangming sat up straight and answered seriously:
"That patient? He's from Longwan Township, 30 miles east of the county seat. He went up the mountain to farm yesterday and fell. He broke his ribs and forearm, and his injuries are quite serious.
Because the patient was only 29 years old and a strong laborer in the family, his family pooled some money and sent him to our county hospital. If it were someone else, they would not normally send him to the county hospital.
Lin Sanqi was slightly surprised:
"Hey, you mean that only strong laborers are eligible to see a doctor, and ordinary old, weak, and disabled people can't get treatment?"
Shan Guangming smiled bitterly and nodded:
"It's cruel to say it, but that's how it is, especially for the elderly and children. If they die, they die, and you can only blame your bad luck.
Just like this patient with a fracture, the registration fee is 20 cents. Although Chinese herbal medicine is used, after several courses of treatment, the total cost of the medicine is 5 yuan.
For city dwellers, this amount of money is just the price of three chickens. An ordinary worker earns 30 yuan a month, so 5 yuan is not a huge sum of money.
But for people in the mountains, the work points they earn year-round aren't enough to even afford food, so how can they afford medical care? 99% of farmers can't even afford 5 yuan."
Lin Sanqi thought about it and realized that in the 1960s, the north was indeed richer than the south.
For farmers like those in Changping County, 5 yuan is still affordable for an average family.
Even during festivals, people could go into the capital to buy some things. Except for the three-year period, people had enough food to eat on ordinary days and no one starved to death.
But in the rural areas of Xiguang Province, poverty means complete poverty. People are so poor that they can't even get enough to eat, and it is not uncommon for them to starve to death.
This situation is also very common in southern Zhejiang, Hujian, and eastern Guangdong. These places have often become hometowns of overseas Chinese, and the common people have no choice but to leave their homes and go abroad to make a living.
Ultimately, there is too little land.
For example, in Andu County, the per capita arable land is 0.5 mu, and the limestone soil is too barren, so the grain yield is very low and it is impossible to feed more people.
Lin Sanqi looked at Wang Jin beside him and asked:
"Old Wang, you're from Andu County. Could you please tell me about your hometown?" (End of this chapter)
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