Medical workers put their lives on the line

Quake support

Doctors Without Borders has worked in China since 1988, initially to provide emergency assistance to people affected by natural disasters. In the decade that followed, it responded to more than 20 cases of flooding, earthquakes, snowstorms and typhoons nationwide - bringing help to tens of millions of people.

In the mid-1990s, China's disaster response, management and emergency preparedness capacity, as well as the availability and quality of relief supplies, improved significantly. The organization was able to focus on the treatment of medical and infectious diseases in remote areas of the country.

In 2003, it helped control the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, in Hebei province and started to give free comprehensive care and treatment to HIV-positive patients in Xiangfan, Hubei province, and Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in partnership with Chinese health authorities. These two projects have since been handed over to the two local governments.

In 2008, after the devastating earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, Doctors Without Borders provided emergency relief and psychological support to the victims. Since 2014, it has not carried out rescue projects in China.

Wei said, "China's contribution to global health has largely improved in recent years, This can not only be seen in the government's continuous medical aid to regions such as Africa; more and more civilian forces and individuals are also actively engaged in international humanitarian aid."

In 2007, the organization established an office on the Chinese mainland in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

In 2004, during the Indian Ocean tsunami, its office in Hong Kong received many calls from people on the mainland, Wei said. "These people offered help and asked how they could join our organization. We felt it was time to expand our work on the mainland," Wei said.

The first mainland staff member to join the organization's mission abroad was Pan Yuan, a logistics employee from Yunnan province. Pan acted as an interpreter for the organization's doctors and other employees when it responded to flooding in Hunan province in 1998.

Pan was able to work for Doctors Without Borders as he can speak English, but this has proved to be a hurdle for other applicants.

According to the organization's website, applicants should have at least two years' relevant professional experience and the ability to speak English or French fluently, including medical terminology.

Zhang Meiwen, an epidemiologist who works for the organization's program in Cambodia, thinks the multinational environment it provides is a bonus for its workers.

"The best thing about working for an international humanitarian aid agency is that background or nationality become less important," Zhang said.

"Just like our mission, we treat patients impartially; thus doctors and staff members with different cultural backgrounds are also treated in this way in the organization, as we all come together with the same goal of saving lives."