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Follow your heart
Source:Global Times Published: 2012-7-31 19:25:00
Lhamo Choezin, 12, waves goodbye from the Beijing-Lhasa train on Sunday evening. Photo: Li Hao/GT
Lhamo Choezin, a 12-year-old girl from Zhanang county, Tibet Autonomous Region, is very happy to be boarding the train back to her hometown on Sunday. Two days later, she will be reunited with her family. More importantly, she is going home with a healthy heart and can now run, play and go to school with her friends.
"I have been longing for school and now I can finally go," Lhamo says, with a big grin.
Lhamo is one of the 14 children from Tibet who got on the train from Beijing to go back to Lhasa. They had come to the capital to see doctors about their congenital heart disease. After being treated for two weeks at China Meitan General Hospital, they now have a clean bill of health. In mid-July, a total of 34 Tibetan children with heart defects arrived in Beijing. Under a campaign launched in June by Quzheng Charity Foundation, which acts as a bridge between sick children in poor areas and Samaritans, each year 50 children with heart diseases from Tibet are treated for free in Beijing.
In August, another 16 children will arrive, according to Qu Zheng, founder of the foundation and vice president of the hospital. The cost of treating each child averages out at about 30,000 yuan ($4,700) and most of the funds came from donations by celebrities and film stars.
The plateau region, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, has a high incidence of congenital heart disease. The frequency rate is at 12 to 14 per 1,000 people, compared with 6 to 8 per 1,000 at lower altitudes.
Over 10,000 children are currently diagnosed with the disease in Tibet, and about 3,000 of them have been treated since 2008, said Phubu Drolma, Tibet's health department chief, in February. She vowed that all the others would be treated for free in the next two years, thanks to a mixture of public and private funding.
Global Times
Lhamo Choezin, a 12-year-old girl from Zhanang county, Tibet Autonomous Region, is very happy to be boarding the train back to her hometown on Sunday. Two days later, she will be reunited with her family. More importantly, she is going home with a healthy heart and can now run, play and go to school with her friends.
"I have been longing for school and now I can finally go," Lhamo says, with a big grin.
Lhamo is one of the 14 children from Tibet who got on the train from Beijing to go back to Lhasa. They had come to the capital to see doctors about their congenital heart disease. After being treated for two weeks at China Meitan General Hospital, they now have a clean bill of health. In mid-July, a total of 34 Tibetan children with heart defects arrived in Beijing. Under a campaign launched in June by Quzheng Charity Foundation, which acts as a bridge between sick children in poor areas and Samaritans, each year 50 children with heart diseases from Tibet are treated for free in Beijing.
In August, another 16 children will arrive, according to Qu Zheng, founder of the foundation and vice president of the hospital. The cost of treating each child averages out at about 30,000 yuan ($4,700) and most of the funds came from donations by celebrities and film stars.
The plateau region, with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, has a high incidence of congenital heart disease. The frequency rate is at 12 to 14 per 1,000 people, compared with 6 to 8 per 1,000 at lower altitudes.
Over 10,000 children are currently diagnosed with the disease in Tibet, and about 3,000 of them have been treated since 2008, said Phubu Drolma, Tibet's health department chief, in February. She vowed that all the others would be treated for free in the next two years, thanks to a mixture of public and private funding.
Global Times
Rigzin Dorje, 14, appears very calm before receiving an anesthetic. Photo: Li Hao/GT
Tsedron, 3, cooperates with the doctor when receiving an ultrasonic examination. Photo: Li Hao/GT
A Tibetan boy peeps through the window of an echocardiography room. Photo: Li Hao/GT
Nyima Tsering, 5, born with a congenital heart defect, is much thinner than other children of the same age. He doesn't like the hospital ward, preferring to stay in his grandmother's arms. Photo: Li Hao/GT
Sonam Tsering, 7, an active and happy boy, seems upbeat on his ward bed, with his mother beside him. Photo: Li Hao/GT
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