A month later, Dizhu Village Health Center.
Dizhu Village is particularly lively today. Minister Li and Vice Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Health, Leader Li from Xiguang Province, and Health Minister Shang Guangliang are all present.
In addition, leaders in charge of medical and health work in various regions and counties of Xiguang Province, and heads of major hospitals and medical schools were also present.
Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, filling the entire threshing ground of Dizhu Village.
The villagers had never seen such a grand occasion before. The most powerful leader they had ever seen was the commune director, so the entire village of Dizhu Village, and even villagers from several nearby villages, came to watch the fun.
As a result, the small hillsides around the threshing ground were also densely packed with local people, and the level of liveliness far exceeded that of local gatherings.
Lin Sanqi sat among several leaders, explaining to them:
Minister Li looked at the barefoot doctor in a white coat in the middle of the threshing ground with a nervous look on his face and asked softly:
"Xiao Lin, did this young doctor really only receive training for a month?"
Lin Sanqi replied proudly:
"Minister Li, this is untrue. When I arrived in Dizhu Village a month ago, this Doctor Wang Xidong was still the village clerk. He only graduated from junior high school and had no medical knowledge at all. If you don't believe me, you can ask any villager."
Minister Li is a woman, and women are suspicious. She won't believe anything just because she has a good relationship with Lin Sanqi.
After all, this is a national task that concerns the health of hundreds of millions of farmers, and there can be no room for negligence.
So she stood up, walked to a small hillside filled with local villagers, and asked:
"Hello, fellow villagers. I'd like to ask, has Comrade Wang Xidong ever studied medicine? Or does anyone in his family work as a doctor?"
When asked this question, the villagers of Dizhu Village answered in unison:
"Adong used to be a clerk and also a scorekeeper, keeping track of the work."
"His family has been poor farmers for three generations. They only sent him to school because they had this one son. But he failed to get into technical secondary school after finishing junior high school and returned to the village."
"No one in Adong's family is a doctor. There's not a single doctor in this area. Where did he learn this?"
Minister Li felt relieved when he heard this. Her questions were random, and the people she asked were also random. It was impossible to fake it, and the actors had been arranged in advance.
Then he asked with a smile:
"So, fellow villagers, do you welcome this barefoot doctor program? Do you think it will help your lives?"
When the villagers heard that the leader from the capital was so amiable, they all rushed to reply:
"Leader, we've been waiting day and night for a doctor so we can get treatment when we get sick."
"Yes, Ah Dong became a barefoot doctor and brought back so many medicines. We are saved."
"We firmly support the leadership's barefoot doctor program, which truly serves us farmers."
Minister Li felt even happier after hearing this. As long as the Ministry of Health could gain the support of the masses and could actually help the farmers, all the efforts made would be worthwhile.
"So, do you think the 5-cent registration fee, plus a few cents and a few dollars for medicine, is too expensive? Can you afford it?"
The villagers felt embarrassed at this time and obviously no longer had the confidence to speak.
A few cents is not a small amount of money for this remote mountain village.
An old farmer replied at this time:
"It's only a few cents to treat an illness, so it's worth it. When we get sick and get well, we can work for our families and support them. If we, the strong laborers, fall down, our wives, children, and parents will starve to death. So the few cents for medicine is worth it."
"Yes, before when we were sick, even if we had the conditions to go to the county hospital, it would cost at least a few dollars, and even then it might not be enough to cure us. Now there is a hospital right next to our home, with Western medicine, so we need to see a doctor."
Minister Li listened thoughtfully.
Her other personal idea is to set up a rural cooperative medical service agency, where each villager pays 1 yuan a year and then can get medicine and medical treatment for free.
The old lady believed that this was in line with the essence of socialism. How could farmers be asked to pay out of their own pockets every time they went to the hospital?
However, Lin Sanqi firmly opposed it, believing that such a big-pot system would only lead to doctors' lack of work enthusiasm and bad attitudes. In order to save costs, the clinic would not purchase any good medicines or effective drugs.
Of course, Lin Sanqi also has its own solution, which is to lower the price of the drug.
For example, a box of ibuprofen, a better-quality tablet like "Fenbid," costs over 20 yuan. But a bottle of the hospital's 7+4 basic medication, with 100 ibuprofen tablets, costs 6 yuan, which translates to 0.6 cents per pill.
This was the price in 2016.
Another famous antibiotic is cefuroxime, a box of 12 pills costs more than 30 yuan, and the cheaper one is 5 yuan.
Lin Sanqi removed the packaging of cephalexin, without the outer shell or plastic plate, and made it all into tablets. A bottle also contains 100 tablets.
In this way, the cost of a bottle of medicine can also be reduced to about 10 yuan, which means that a cephalosporin pill costs 10 cents.
The above prices are from 2016. In order to ensure profitability for doctors in 1964, Lin Sanqi still keeps the original prices.
That is, a bottle of cefuroxime costs 10 yuan, and the barefoot doctor can earn 3 yuan.
This solves the problem of expensive medicines, allowing ordinary people to afford medicines and have the confidence to go to the hospital.
The income of barefoot doctors can also be guaranteed. At worst, if you sell 10 bottles of cephalexin a month, your income can reach 30 yuan, which is an astronomical figure for rural areas.
Minister Li returned to the spectator seats. At this time, Wang Xidong, the new barefoot doctor in Dizhu Village, was preparing to demonstrate medical treatment.
Facing hundreds of leading cadres, thousands of local villagers, and 5 cameras, reporters were filming non-stop.
Wang Xidong was sweating profusely and his hands were shaking with nervousness.
Lin Sanqi saw it and shouted:
"Comrade Wang Xidong, don't forget that this is the birthplace of the Dizhu Experience. If you do a good job today, it will bring honor to your family. So you must remain calm, be meticulous, and treat patients well."
When the old village chief heard this, he also shouted, "Adong, you must make our Dizhu Village proud."
Hundreds of villagers from Dizhu Village also shouted:
"Come on, Dong!"
"Don't be nervous, clerk. We support you!"
Hehehe~~~Everyone, whether leaders at all levels or ordinary people nearby, laughed in good faith.
Wang Xidong took a few deep breaths and then nodded.
Today he was treating patients in the middle of the threshing ground. He rechecked his work and looked around at the medicines in the cabinet before speaking:
"First villager, come and see the doctor."
Wang Xidong's wife acted as a temporary nurse today. Barefoot doctors have become her family's career, and of course she fully supports it.
The scene suddenly became quiet.
There is a microphone on the table where Wang Xidong is seeing the doctor, so that everyone present can listen to the entire consultation process.
The first patient was an old lady who came over supported by her two sons.
Everyone saw that the old lady kept coughing, and her legs were weak when she walked, and she had to rely on her two sons to support her.
Everyone at the scene was thinking, this old lady is so sick that she can't even walk properly. Can this barefoot doctor help?
In fact, no one thought that the old lady was too nervous and scared.
Wang Xidong took a few deep breaths before asking:
"Ayou's mom, what's wrong with you?"
The old lady coughed a few times before she spoke:
"I'm coughing badly and I feel like I have a fever. My whole body is burning. Ah Dong, what do you think is wrong with me? Is it curable?"
Lin Xidong glanced at the small red book "Barefoot Doctor Manual" on the table, thinking about how to deal with the situation at this time.
"Ayou's mother, let me take your temperature first, and then listen to your lungs to see if they're okay."
The deans of the major hospitals and medical schools present were shocked:
"After only one month of training, these farmers can already listen to lung sounds? That's impossible!"
"That's right. Even technical secondary school students may not be able to listen to lung sounds by the time they graduate. How can this farmer do that?"
Lin Sanqi knew that other people would have this question, so he asked his secretary to bring a tape recorder.
"Come on, everyone, be quiet for a moment. I'll play a few sounds for you to listen to."
The deans, doctors, and experts present at the scene all fell silent, and soon a special sound came from the tape recorder.
A dean exclaimed, "Is this moist rales in the lungs?"
The tape recorder is playing a series of noises. To outsiders, these whirring and chattering sounds are the voice. Why is there no song playing?
But for professional doctors and professors, they can tell that these are abnormal breathing sounds of the human body.
After everyone listened to it once, Lin Sanqi turned off the recorder and then spoke:
"What you just heard are the lung auscultation sounds, such as normal breath sounds, including bronchial breath sounds, alveolar breath sounds, and bronchoalveolar breath sounds.
There are also abnormal breath sounds, such as dry rales, moist rales, wheezing, and pleural friction sounds.
Like this moist rales, the characteristics of auscultation are that they are obvious at the end of inspiration, intermittent and short, and similar to the sound of a burst bubble. Those present are all seniors in the health system and should be able to distinguish them easily.
Let's further subdivide it. For example, coarse moist rales, which are large bubbling sounds, are common in patients with pulmonary edema and coma; medium moist rales: medium bubbling sounds, are common in bronchitis and pneumonia.
Finally, there is a kind of fine moist rales, which sounds like the sound of small bubbles popping, indicating that there is inflammatory exudation in the alveoli, such as pulmonary congestion, interstitial pneumonia, etc.
What I am talking about is theory, which may be difficult for outsiders to grasp, but now I am showing the sound in this tape recorder to the barefoot doctor.
I listened to it for them every day, dozens of times a day. Tell me, do these young barefoot doctors remember it? Medical education, to put it bluntly, is all about listening, learning, and remembering.
In the past, medical students heard these sounds from patients during their internships in hospitals. After hearing them many times, they remembered them and gained experience.
Now, listening to the tape recorder is more convenient, the sound is more typical, and the barefoot doctor no longer has to follow the doctor around. Even if they forget what they heard this year, I can play it again for them next year. Do you think they will remember it? "
“Great!”
A dean stood up excitedly:
"Minister Lin, this can definitely be applied to medical education. It's so convenient and practical."
Lin Sanqi waved his hand:
"Sit down first. Don't worry. I'll prepare tape recorders and tapes for everyone. Our medical education must keep pace with the times."
Hehehe~~~Everyone at the scene chuckled.
Wang Xidong also put away his stethoscope at this time and said:
"Ayou's mom, your lungs are inflamed, and your temperature is 38.5 degrees Celsius. It's quite serious."
Huang Ayou, the son, panicked when he heard this:
"Adong, what should I do? My mom has pneumonia. Can you save her? I'll borrow some money."
When the other villagers heard this, they were also shocked and started talking about it.
Even the directors of major hospitals frowned and looked serious at this time.
For farmers in the 1960s, pneumonia was an emergency or even a terminal illness.
In rural areas where there are no doctors and no medicine, the mortality rate is more than half. If it is pneumonia in the elderly, it is almost a life-or-death situation.
Wang Xidong was actually a little nervous inside, but he remembered that his teacher had said during the training that doctors must remain calm, even if they had to pretend to be calm.
After all, if the doctor panics first, the patient will become even more panicked and may even be scared to death rather than die from the disease.
"Ayou, don't worry. Pneumonia used to be a serious illness, but I'm here for you now. Don't worry, your mother won't die with me here."
After Wang Xidong comforted the villagers, he turned to the old lady and said:
"Ayou's mother, you have pneumonia. I have the best anti-inflammatory and antipyretic medicine. As long as you take the medicine on time every day, I guarantee that you will be cured within a week."
The old lady was wiping her tears just now, thinking she was about to die, but now she was happy when she heard it.
Who wants to die when they can live?
"Adong, it's good to have medicine, but it shouldn't be too expensive. We can't afford it."
Lin Sanqi then asked Director Li of the Xiguang Provincial People's Hospital next to him:
"Director Li, what are the steps for treating pneumonia? How much does it cost?"
Dean Li replied softly:
"Pneumonia requires hospitalization, followed by blood tests and X-rays. Penicillin is needed if available, and if not, oxytetracycline. The more expensive option is around 50 yuan, but the cheaper option is at least 30 yuan."
An X-ray costs 10 yuan, and penicillin is even more expensive, so ordinary people cannot afford it.
The workers are lucky, as they have public medical care and the factory can reimburse some of the expenses.
The farmers can only wait for death, as a few dozen yuan is too much for them to bear.
Wang Xidong stood up, took out a paper bag, put 10 cefuroxime pills into it, and put 6 ibuprofen pills into another paper bag.
"Ah, my friend, these are two kinds of medicine. One is an anti-inflammatory, and the other is a fever reducer. Take one pill each, twice a day. Don't forget. If you really can't remember, come back and ask me. Also, you should have some Houttuynia cordata at home, right?"
Huang Ayou nodded repeatedly:
"Yes, yes, we have both fresh and dried ones."
Houttuynia cordata is also known as Houttuynia cordata. People in other regions are terrified of it and think it is the most unpalatable thing in the world, but it is the most popular wild vegetable among the people in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.
Especially in the 1960s, every household picked it to eat as a vegetable or even as food.
Wang Xidong warned:
"Then when you go back, boil some Houttuynia cordata in water and give it to your mother. Add a little salt to it. Houttuynia cordata has the effect of clearing away heat and detoxifying, and has certain antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. It will be good for your mother."
Fever can easily lead to electrolyte imbalance, and sick people don’t like to eat or drink water, which will aggravate their condition.
People in rural areas say they have a fever and eventually die from it, but in fact it is caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalance.
At this point, I went to a big hospital in the city and received an infusion to correct the dehydration and electrolytes, and I recovered quickly.
But in rural areas, it is almost a dead end, because fluid and electrolyte replenishment have a strict set of formulas, and doctors need rich clinical experience, which is impossible in rural areas.
Wang Xidong uses both cephalexin and Houttuynia cordata, which is a typical combination of Chinese and Western medicine.
Historically, the training time for barefoot doctors was 2 months because it required a lot of training in traditional Chinese medicine, which was very complicated and time-consuming.
However, Lin Sanqi's version of the "Barefoot Doctor Manual" mainly focuses on Western medicine, making treatment relatively simple and the training time compressed to one month.
The reason why the complex knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine was not deleted was because Lin Sanqi had some concerns.
What if Western medicine is not available in time, or transportation lines are cut off? What will happen to the barefoot doctors? Will they stop treating patients?
Therefore, learning basic Chinese medicine knowledge and copying down a few classic and commonly used prescriptions as backup are also the basic requirements for barefoot doctors.
After the old lady got the pills, she asked nervously:
"Adong, how much does it cost?"
Wang Xidong smiled into the microphone and said:
"Cephalexin is 1 yuan, ibuprofen is 36 cents, and there's 5 cents for the registration fee. That's 1 yuan and 40 cents in total."
Wow~~~Everyone was shocked when they heard this number.
The directors of major hospitals thought it was too cheap. This was not a treatment for pneumonia, but clearly a treatment for a common cold.
However, most villagers still think it is too expensive. One yuan and forty cents is equivalent to seven kilograms of rice or two kilograms of fat meat, mixed with some wild vegetables, which can last for a month.
Huang Ayou and his brother breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this. They took out a pile of change from their pockets and counted them one by one.
Wang Xidong took the microphone and said to the surrounding villagers:
"Ayou's mother has pneumonia, which is quite serious, so the fee is a bit higher, and the high price is because of the anti-inflammatory drug cefuroxime.
If it is a common cold, you only need to take medicine for two days, and it only costs one or two cents. Don't be afraid of not being able to afford medical treatment.
In addition, if you really don't have cash, you can give me food of equivalent value, rice, sweet potatoes, corn are all fine, or you can catch some pheasants, rabbits, or catch some fish.
If all else fails, you can dig up some Chinese herbs. There is always a way out. We can't let ourselves die from holding our urine, right?
We barefoot doctors will not refuse physical goods. After all, our first responsibility is to treat illnesses and save lives. As long as we don’t lose money, that’s fine.”
Wang Xidong's statement was very important and was recorded by several cameras.
When Minister Li heard this, he slapped his thigh excitedly:
"Okay, that's a good idea. Farmers are poor and really don't have any money. But even if they have no money, they can always get some food or game. I believe most farmers can do it, and that will solve the problem of medicine costs."
When the leaders who were watching heard this, they also thought this policy was good:
"Yes, no matter how poor you are, there is always something at home."
"If you can't borrow money, you can always borrow some cornmeal from relatives or villagers."
"Even if they catch some fish in the river or dig some loaches, if there is nothing, it means that this person either has poor interpersonal relationships or is too lazy."
But some people objected: (End of this chapter)
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