Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Pumi people have doctors now


doc, originally uploaded by mutikonka1.

In 1929 Joseph Rock's passed through the remote Yangwe Kong valley and made these comments about the health of the local Pumi people:
"Whenever we came to a village the peasants would gather about
us and with folded hands would beseech me to dispense medicine to
sick relatives. Often I could help. Sometimes I had to refuse"
.

In 2004, on our way through the same valley, we paused briefly at a village called Sanyanlong where there were
a couple of stores, a clinic and a sizeable, neat Chinese-style
school. The students flocked out to see us, and Wang, being director
of education went in to make a quick visit.
I popped my head into the clinic, a simple treatment room where a
demur female doctor in a white coat was inserting an IV drip into a
woman's arm. "Conditions here are very poor," she said
apologetically.

At least now they had a clinic.

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