Nyingchi People's Hospital in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region has performed two landmark pediatric surgeries in less than a year, both made possible through a long-running medical cooperation program with Guangdong Province.
On August 6, 2025, a multidisciplinary team led by hospital director Wang Junjiang, working alongside specialists from Guangdong's 11th group-style medical aid team, operated on a premature infant girl delivered at 35 weeks. The newborn weighed just 1.85 kilograms and was diagnosed with congenital duodenal atresia complicated by severe infection. She was discharged after making a full recovery. The procedure set a hospital record for the youngest gestational age and lowest body weight in any surgical case in Nyingchi.
This April, the hospital's team faced a second case. An 11-year-old Tibetan girl was admitted with severe pneumonia, adhesive empyema and a lung abscess caused by an MRSA infection. The hospital initiated a multidisciplinary team (MDT) consultation that linked its doctors with specialists at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center. A Guangzhou expert subsequently traveled to Nyingchi to join the surgical team on site. The thoracic procedure that followed was the first pediatric chest surgery performed in the city.
Both cases illustrate the role of sustained personnel exchanges and telemedicine infrastructure in expanding local surgical capacity. The Guangdong group-style medical aid program sends specialists to Tibetan hospitals for extended rotations.
Author | Feng Huiting
Video | Feng Huiting
