Securing future vision for eye health

Ophthalmologist, 80, has spent 22 years treating patients in Northeast China

Over the past 22 years, Lilia Anatolievna Popova has received hundreds of thousands of patients with eye problems in China.

The 80-year-old Russian ophthalmologist has been one of the chief experts at Daqing Ophthalmic Hospital in Heilongjiang province, since 1998, after retiring from the ophthalmology department of Alma-Ata Central Hospital in Kazakhstan.

Popova was renowned as an ophthalmologist in Kazakhstan in the 1990s. But when she began a three-month visit in Daqing at the request of fellow doctors in 1998, it seemed unlikely she would stay at the newly founded hospital, which lacked advanced ophthalmological techniques and equipment.

However, she was impressed by Yu Yaoguang, the founder of the hospital, who explained its vision and future goals to her. "Yu told me the hospital mainly focused on serving ordinary people and solving their eye problems," Popova said. "In fact, that was also my original reason for becoming an ophthalmologist, so I decided to accept Yu's invitation."

She became the first foreign expert at the hospital as well as the first in Daqing since 1979.

According to the hospital's regulations, Popova only needs to see 20 patients a day, but she usually receives twice that number. She seldom leaves the hospital on time and rarely has a full day's rest in a week.

"I can't refuse my patients, especially those from far away," she said. "A doctor should not only have rich knowledge and experience but also understand the pain of the patients. Only those who are willing to help and save their patients can be regarded as good doctors."