Patients in far-flung villages can now be attended to by doctors from first-class hospitals in Southwest China's Guizhou province, benefiting from improvements in the province's remote treatment service.

Villagers from Jiuchang in Kaiyang county previously had to take a 100-kilometer bus ride through winding mountain roads to reach Guiyang city, capital of Guizhou, in order to be seen by top hospitals doctors.

But now they get the sterling service by visiting Li Zaigang, a doctor at the village clinic.

Li gives an initial diagnosis. But if he feels uncertain, he can ask premium hospitals for help, which save patients' time and money while supplying them with quality medical services.

Nie Wenqiong, a 53-year-old villager who was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago, had to take a 40-minute bus ride downtown to have regular checkups each month. Now, however, Li does the physical examination for her.

On Jan 18, Li found Nie's blood sugar was higher than normal and contacted Wang Xiaobing, a physician at a top-level Guiyang hospital, and told him about the condition of the patient.

After 30 minutes of direct consultation with Nie over the computer, Wang gave suggestions and Li made adjustments to Nie's dosage and arranged the next checkup after a few days.

"Through remote treatment, I can receive diagnosis from provincial experts without registering and waiting in a long line," Nie said.

On Jan 8, the village had its first remote consultation on the internet for six-year-old patient Gou Junling, who received topflight attention from some of the country's leading doctors while at the local clinic.

During the consultation, doctors from Beijing Friendship Hospital, top hospitals in Guiyang, and the local township discussed and analyzed the cause of the disease and the patient's condition. They then offered a specific treatment plan.

Service spans province

Zhang Guangqi, vice-chairman of the Guizhou provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former deputy director of the Health and Family Planning Commission of Guizhou, said: "Guizhou is one of the first provinces to implement remote medical treatment from hospitals at provincial, city, county and village levels."

He said that last year 1.5 billion yuan ($237.79 million) was invested to equip the province with digital medical equipment, such as digital imaging devices and type-B ultrasonic examination machines, for 1,543 governmental grassroots medical institutions.

In 2017, Guizhou's medical bodies organized difficult disease consultations, providing remote diagnosis for 114,000 villagers, as well as holding more than 200 distance education training courses for over 200,000 people.

Wang Rongpin, director of the radiology department of Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital, said remote medical services allow patients with slight illnesses to get treatment at local medical institutions, not only saving time and money, but also providing doctors with more experience.

Insurance lowers burden

Guizhou is also carrying out four medical security systems - primary illness insurance, serious illness insurance, medical rescue and medical support - to reduce the burden for low-income people seeking medical treatment, according to the province's government.

During the first 11 months of last year, a total of 1.84 million people in Guizhou benefited from the medical security systems, receiving reimbursements totaling 3.48 billion yuan.

Scan the QR code and follow China Daily journalist Greg Fountain on a journey of discovery in Jiuchang village, Kaiyang county of Guizhou province:

(China Daily 03/09/2018 page18)