Good Ears and Eyes Project comes to Lhasa
"You're quite nearsighted, why don't you wear glasses?" "Your eyes are very well protected, very good." Dr. Li Li, an ophthalmologist from Beijing, was patiently examining children's eye developments and vision with a miniature flashlight.
On October 10, the Community Health Service Center of the Lhasa Chengguan Neighborhood Office was crowded. The aisles of the service center were filled with parents and students in school uniforms, waiting to be examined by a dozen of ophthalmologists, ear, nose, and throat specialists, and head and neck surgery specialists from Beijing.
The "Good Ears and Eyes Project" initiated by the China Children and Teenagers Foundation has come to the Chengguan District of Lhasa City. The specialists from Beijing not only examine the hearing and vision the children, they have also brought the latest medical technology to Lhasa.
"There are so many people who need to be examined. Because of the high altitude, the specialists can barely breathe while they're working, let alone eat. Dr. Li hasn't even had lunch yet," said a staff of the service center.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when the reporter squeezed in the crowded doctor's office, Dr. Li Li was found having already put on an oxygen tube. She was mentally and physically exhausted, but she still had great enthusiasm for the patients she was examining, and she patiently spent time with every student.
"Not just Dr. Li Li," said a staff member at the health care center, "all the medical experts who came to Lhasa are like this."
From 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., eleven specialists conducted visual and hearing screenings for nearly 1,000 Tibetan children in just one day.
An official said, "The purpose of establishing this medical site is to screen children in Tibet, to create audio-visual files to conduct long-term research on children, and to provide medical assistance to impoverished children. At the same time, it also helps and promotes the development of children's medical care in Tibet through training exchanges, remote-area medical treatment, and medical assistance."
According to reports, the China Children and Teenagers Foundation Children's Health Education and Medical Poverty Alleviation Special Fund Team acts as a professional team for medical poverty alleviation. They mainly target public welfare clinics in impoverished and remote areas of the country, establish medical sites, donate medical equipment, train local medical personnel, and provide medical assistance to children from impoverished families.
In order to more accurately target children's health issues, the China Children and Teenagers Foundation has launched the "Good Ears and Eyes Project", which seeks to address vision and hearing problems in children and advocate daily eye and ear care to students.