“Mobile hospitals” deliver medical services to doorsteps of rural residents in E China’s Zhejiang

It took about one hour for the medical vehicle, which was dispatched by a hospital in Songyang county, Lishui city, east China’s Zhejiang Province, to get to Xiecun village, a mountainous village located in the same county. Many local villagers had been waiting for the vehicle’s arrival at the entrance of the village.

A “mobile hostpital” visits Songzhuang village in Songyang county. (Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn)

The vehicle, though not big, was equipped with a complete set of medical equipment, including an electrocardiograph, a mobile B-ultrasound device and a blood sampling machine, as well as more than 50 different kinds of medicine, being able to provide various medical services to residents in the localities it visits.

“Xiecun village is one of the remotest villages in Songyang county, being 39 kilometers from the county seat. Half of the village’s permanent residents are elderly people who have encountered inconveniences in seeking medical treatment. Therefore, we established a medical service team to deliver services to the doorsteps of the rural residents,” said Liu Yuhua, deputy head of Gushi Hospital.

“In the past, going to the hospital was difficult, with several transfers on the way,” said Li Guangfu, a local villager, who was taking his medications as prescribed by the doctor. “Nowadays, I can access medical services without having to leave the village. The doctors also established health records for us. How convenient it is for us to seek medical treatment nowadays!”

In November 2021, the medical team launched an online health record system that contains a host of information about patients, such as their medical history and medication logs, being very helpful in assisting doctors to perform diagnoses and provide treatment plans.

There are five such “mobile hospitals” in Songyang county, which are able to serve rural residents in 203 villages of 19 townships in the county. Last year, the mobile medical vehicles made a total of 2,489 visits, during which 5,046 medical workers provided medical services for 155,200 rural patients.