Medical workers put their lives on the line

Supplies disrupted

The Doctors Without Borders' aid program at Abs Hospital began in July 2015. That year, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the local medical system was paralyzed due to the increasing casualties and malnutrition resulting from the violence.

Health facilities were hit by bombs, grenades and artillery fire from the warring parties, with services devastated, medical supplies disrupted and staff members forced to flee.

MSF was trying to transform the local medical center at Abs Hospital into a general hospital. But within a month, aid was suspended after an air-strike hit the facility, killing 19 people, including a worker from the organization, which resumed its work in November 2015.

"We wouldn't be sacrificing our money and vacations and risking our lives to save others in these dangerous places if we didn't believe in the values that Doctors Without Borders promotes," Shen said.

Since it was established in 1971, the organization's mission has been to provide impartial medical relief to victims of war, disease and natural or man-made disasters, irrespective of gender, race, religion, creed or political convictions.

Its teams work in some of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world. According to the organization's annual report last year, about one-third of the humanitarian medical assistance it provided was for communities caught in armed conflict.

During Shen's two-month stay in Yemen, she often heard the sound of helicopters flying over the hospital.

According to the Yemen Data Project, an independent monitoring group, there were 16,749 air raids in Yemen from 2015 to last year, an average of 15 a day.

When Shen arrived in 2017, Doctors Without Borders opened 13 cholera treatment centers in Yemen, receiving 100,000 patients. Last year, one of the centers was bombed in airstrikes.

Li Xuefeng, an anesthetist from Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, recently returned from Mosul, Iraq, his fourth assignment with Doctors Without Borders, where he provided medical care to people displaced by conflict.

"As a doctor working on the frontline of conflicts, there are always many people on hand to ensure our safety," Li said.

Since joining the organization in 2015, Li has carried out missions in Pakistan, South Sudan, Syria and Iraq. Similar to his work at a public hospital in Urumqi, where he needs to punch in his arrival and departure times, working on the frontline also requires him to report his working hours, not to his boss, but to a logistics manager.

"Each program has at least one safety manager to deal with such work," Li said, adding that while they are working, doctors send messages to the managers to keep them abreast of their location.

In addition, a "safety room" is set up for every program. "A safety room is usually built with thick bricks as protection against stray bullets. When there is a dangerous situation, all staff members enter the room and lock the door. With plenty of water, food and medical supplies inside, the organization's workers can temporarily escape from the situation outside," Li said.

Although Li has been trained many times to face emergency situations, he considers himself lucky never to have had to use a safety room.

But for his patients, every day is a challenge.

He recalled a patient in Mosul in her thirties - around his age - with several bullet wounds to her arms and legs who needed to stay in hospital for a series of complicated surgeries.

"I cannot imagine how much pain she has suffered and will suffer. The surgeries are painful. She lost her family in the conflict, including her husband, her husband's parents, and two children, one of them only 2 years old, the other 10. As the only survivor of her family, she is facing an uncertain future."

To have more free time to take part in the work of Doctors Without Borders, Li resigned from the public hospital he worked for. "My next stop is Gaza, where there may be people who need me," he said.

Wei Baozhu, communications officer for Doctors Without Borders in China, said, "A growing number of medical professionals in China are offering their services to aid those most in need."

There are more than 40 aid workers with the organization on the Chinese mainland, and over 100 in total in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Twenty years ago, when Doctors Without Borders was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its contribution to humanitarian aid, China was on the organization's "target list".