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China: Doctor serves patients on horseback

Dunya News

As inhabitants live scattered around the plateau, it is not easy for local people to see doctors.

So Sonams mobile clinic, also known as clinic on horseback, has become very popular because he rides his horse to deliver medical services to patients homes every day over the past 13 years at Niandi town in northwest Chinas Qinghai Province.Niandi Town is located 3,250 meters above sea level on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. About 300 families live in this 15-square-kilometer mountain area. It has become an everyday work for Sonam to gallop over hills to provide medical services to residents living on the other side of the mountain. It takes at least four to five hours to ride from Sonams home to the nearest village. He often cannot see anybody in hours, so he can only sing to the mountains to cheer himself up in his lonely trip.When I feel lonely, I would start singing. This song is about Tibetan New Year, and I sing it to express my best wishes for my patients to recover soon, said Sonam. This patient is a 75-year-old lady. She got stomach ulcer three years ago. Because it is hard for her to walk, she had delayed her visit to doctor time and again. After Sonam heard about it, he began to visit this elderly lady two or three times a month.