Village doctors play important role in poverty relief in rural areas

In this combo photo taken on April 22, 2020, 57-year-old rural doctor Huang Rilei measures blood pressure for villagers (L, top and bottom, photo taken by Zhou Hua), applies cupping for a villager (C, bottom, photo taken by Zhou Hua), checks medicine accounts (R, top, photo taken by Zhou Hua), sorts villagers' health records (R, C, photo taken by Cao Yiming), and is on the way to visit a patient (R, bottom, photo taken by Cao Yiming), at Yishan Village of Tiandeng County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. May 19 marks World Family Doctor Day, a day to highlight the role and contribution of family doctors in health care systems around the world. China is committed to improving the quality of contracted family doctor services and enhancing community-level medical services. Family doctors, including general practitioners registered with grassroots health institutions, qualified doctors at township clinics and village doctors, provide basic medical care and other health services. In Guangxi, a major front in China's anti-poverty campaign, village doctors play an important role in the course of poverty relief in rural areas. They travel door to door to answer patients' calls, especially for those who live in hard-to-reach hamlets and under the poverty line. They are considered health guardians in towns, offering emergency response and medical support. (Xinhua)