Chapter 72: Parasite extermination squad

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Shao Hua did her best to convince Zhang Fan to buy a house. Chasu City’s housing prices had been rising rapidly over the past few years, and she knew that Jinghuajiayuan was truly an excellent district. Zhang Fan finally made up his mind to buy a house!

Due to Director Wang Qian’s involvement, Zhang Fan’s loan was approved incredibly quickly. Zhang Fan instantly incurred a debt of more than 100,000 yuan.

Spring was now here. All the animals became lively again as it was mating season. Zhang Fan was transferred to internal medicine’s gastrointestinal department.

Right when he was rotated here, he didn’t even receive a teaching doctor before the gastrointestinal department’s doctors were ordered to go treat the rural areas. In spring, all sorts of parasites would start reproducing in large numbers on the plains. The government ordered Chasu City Hospital to send out medical teams to the plains to help the nomads get rid of intestinal parasites and prevent plagues from occurring.

Well, the directors would never go and personally do such work. The attending physicians led the rotation doctors to various rural areas. Zhang Fan was put in a team of four people that was sent to Sumutai Village.

Zhang Fan was of course quite familiar with Sumutai Village. Although it was spring, it was still really cold here. The nomads hadn’t changed from their winter plains to here’s yet. The plains were filled with the stench of sheep. All the nomads were still keeping as warm as possible, for it still seemed like winter.

Although the doctors were sent here for the purpose of getting rid of intestinal parasites, the nomads wouldn’t care about that. They would instantly come over in large groups to get treated upon hearing that city doctors were here to temporarily visit their rural village.

Munk was still the superintendent of Sumutai Health Center. He passionately welcomed the city doctors. He was quite familiar with Zhang Fan, and warmly embraced him in a bear hug. Munk, who was a big and buff Mongolian man, seemed like a mountain crushing Zhang Fan who was like a tiny chicken in comparison.

Quite a few of the nomads were also acquainted with Zhang Fan from his previous work at treating them. The parents of the child that Zhang Fan previously saved here even slaughtered a young lamb for Zhang Fan, inviting him to their personal tent and passionately giving him a warm welcome.

Doctor Hu Zengyang, a veteran attending physician and gastroenterologist who was the leader of the four-person team, was quite curious what was going on. He was typically sent to the nomadic districts to eliminate intestinal parasites every year, but had never been welcomed so warmly before. Typically, the local health center would give them a regular welcome. Never had he been invited to the personal tent of a nomad’s family before.

Doctor Hu was even more astonished at what happened next.

The local Buddhist monk came over with a large group of people. The nomads here were all really devout Buddhists, so many of them even kneeled on the ground in front of the Buddhist monk in order to receive a touch on the head from him.

The other doctors were all astonished as the Buddhist monk came up to and embraced Zhang Fan. Although the monk didn’t know how to speak any Chinese, it was quite easy to tell from his expression that he was delighted to see Zhang Fan.

This had only been a small welcoming party, but the Buddhist monk’s arrival turned it into a major party. More and more nomads arrived at Sumutai Health Center, bringing mutton, cured meat, oil, and horsemilk wine.

Soon, the nomads began to sing and dance. The city doctors were paid special attention to. The nomads were the type to be quite friendly to any guests, and they were all open and direct. The Buddhist monk sat down next to Zhang Fan, and not a single nomad came over to disturb them.

However, the other three doctors didn’t have the same treatment. They were forced to drink and dance. Although horsemilk wine had low alcohol content, there were far too many nomads, so the other three doctors soon became completely drunk.

On the next day, Hu Zengyang was especially curious as he commented to Zhang Fan, “You seem to be quite popular here.”

Zhang Fan then gave a simple explanation of how he had previously worked here. Hu Zengyang and the other two doctors were really surprised as they didn’t expect Zhang Fan to have such an experience. Although Sumutai Village technically belonged to Chasu City, the plains were too far away, and it was rare to come out here without specific reason. Thus, the other doctors didn’t have a good understanding of the nomadic districts.

Sumutai Health Center was filled with nomads, especially the elderly. Typically, the health center was only run by Munk and a few other people. They didn’t know how to treat many illnesses, and would just randomly give treatment before having the nomads return home. This place was quite far away from the main city. Anyone who got sick here would simply sleep it off for a few days as long as it wasn’t something major.

Since there were patients, the doctors had to see them. Most of them had chronic illnesses related to internal medicine. Hu Zengyang was the main doctor, while the other two doctors were also rotation doctors who tested the patients’ blood pressure and gave them physical checkups. This was no problem at all for the rotation doctors, and they were also able to identify all the common chronic illnesses. This was the benefit of Ouyang Hong’s new rotation policy. The doctors indeed improved their general knowledge. Although the other two rotation doctors weren’t specialized in internal medicine, they still had enough practical knowledge to treat the common illnesses.

High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, chronic bronchitis, and other such chronic illnesses were common enough that even Sumutai Health Center had the equipment necessary to check up on and treat these illnesses.

Once one group of nomads left, another would arrive; news spread slowly out on the plains. Only on the third day did the nomads arriving for treatment finally decrease in number. Everyone heaved sighs of relief. Although they were all exhausted from constantly treating the nomads, the doctors all had smiles. The nomads were honest, and led simple lifestyles. This helped the city doctors to truly relax compared to their own tense lives in the city.

Not having to care about so-called success or comparing yourselves to others in society was also a type of enjoyment for those in the medical field. The nomad patients believed everything that the doctors told them. This was unlike regular patients, who would sometimes doubt or even argue with their doctors. The doctors truly felt accomplished as they enjoyed this.

Munk prepared some hand-grabbed mutton for the doctors. Here in the nomadic district, mutton was incredibly common, but the nomads typically refrained from eating it. If it wasn’t for the city doctors’ arrival, they typically wouldn’t slaughter the livestock at this time of the year. Actually, the nomads wouldn’t eat meat every day. They would just eat meat some of the time, typically less than people in the city. Nomads who ate meat every day would only appear in television dramas.

historical

Just as Zhang Fan and the others were about to eat, the Buddhist monk brought over a group of people carrying a man who’d collapsed.

“What happened?” Munk inquired.

“Mutu drank wine yesterday, and then drank wine again today. His stomach really started hurting badly this afternoon. The monk told us that the doctor here is really skilled and can treat him.”

The nomads spoke in Mongolian. Zhang Fan and the other doctors couldn’t understand this at all. However, even with the language barrier, all illnesses spoke in the same language. The patient had a pale complexion, was unconscious, and was bleeding from the mouth. Zhang Fan could immediately tell that the patient had a digestive system problem in the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Munk turned to look at Zhang Fan. The other doctors didn’t know anything about Zhang Fan, but Munk knew just how skilled Zhang Fan was. Since the team leader Hu Zengyang was a gastroenterologist, he was also able to identify the problem, although he was unable to treat it due to being an internal medicine doctor.

“You should take him to a hospital in the city immediately for surgery. All of us here are internal medicine doctors,” Hu Zengyang advised Munk.

“Zhang Fan can do the surgery! He’s skilled!” Munk pointed at Zhang Fan.

Hu Zengyang glanced at Zhang Fan before saying, “It’s too dangerous. This patient has already entered a state of shock. Not to mention, this health center doesn’t have a blood supply. This patient is suffering from massive bleeding in the digestive tract. There still might be a chance for him if you rush him to the hospital, but there will be no chance at all if he doesn’t receive treatment soon.”

Hu Zengyang didn’t know how to perform surgery, as he was an internal medicine doctor. He also didn’t know anything about Zhang Fan’s skills, so the medical advice he gave was what he considered the best possible way to help the patient.

Munk glanced pitifully over in Zhang Fan’s direction. The roads were slippery in early spring due to the snow just melting. If this patient was shaken by tremors all the way to the city, that would likely be too much for him. Not only that, this patient happened to be a relative of Munk’s.

Zhang Fan thought for only a moment before he pulled Hu Zengyang to the side. “Doctor Hu, you can also tell that this patient requires immediate surgery. There likely won’t be any hope at all for him if he has to suffer on the entire trip to the city hospital. The medical equipment here is sufficient for surgery, and Superintendent Munk knows how to administer anesthesia. Let’s perform the surgery for the patient right here! I can do it as long as I have a surgical assistant.”

Hu Zengyang took a long look at Zhang Fan before saying, “Are you really certain? We’re just here as a parasite extermination squad; as long as you start the surgery, you’ll have to take responsibility. A doctor should seek practical results, not try and be a hero in every situation.”

“I’m certain. I’ll take responsibility if a medical incident occurs,” Zhang Fan said in a serious tone.

“Alright. I’ll go ask the other two rotation doctors for you to see if one of them is willing to be your surgical assistant. Let me tell you right now, if neither of them is willing to help you, you can’t force them. I understand that you want to help out here because you’re really familiar with the locals.”