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Clara Li

The biggest dream of Li Dawei's young life is to become a doctor so he can help children stricken with leukaemia.

'Somebody like Professor Hu,' the boy said, with a shy smile, as he spoke of his ambitions.

The six-year-old is being treated at the blood disease centre of Beijing's Children's Hospital.

Professor Hu Yamei, regarded as the mainland's most respected doctor and authority on childhood leukaemia, has dedicated 25 years of her life to battling the disease.

At 78, the head of the blood disease centre and honourable president of the Children's Hospital, still walks with a brisk step.

The treatment centre she created in 1972 has the highest cure rate in China - 74.4 per cent, compared with the national average of 45 per cent.

'Leukaemia is not a deadly disease,' she said. 'It has been shown so clearly in our records that if the children follow the proper treatment, they can have a complete recovery.'

The doctor was addressing a common perception in China that childhood leukaemia is almost always fatal.

Last year she was delighted when she heard that one of her former patients had been admitted to a medical school. Days later, however, Professor Hu received a call from the Ministry of Education, demanding she issue a certificate that the student had fully recovered, or the school would not admit her.

She regards this case as just one example of what she calls widespread discrimination against the centre's patients, whom she calls 'our children'.

Many who have fully recovered do not tell their colleagues, or even spouses, of their medical past, for fear they will be ostracised.

Professor Hu, a 1947 graduate of the elite Beijing Medical University, decided to dedicate her life to fighting childhood leukaemia in 1976. She had read a research paper indicating that the disease was the most common cause of death for urban children aged five to 15 and the second biggest killer for infants aged up to five.

'As a paediatrician, of course, whatever disease does the most harm is where I should be,' Professor Hu said.

To ensure patients stay on the three-year treatment programme, the doctor has frequently met costs for medicine and other patient expenses from her own pocket.

Within the first four months of treatment, patients enter remission and begin to look healthier. But if the treatment stopped, the youngsters would suffer a terminal relapse, Professor Hu said.

In 1992, the recovery rate for her treatment ward rose 50.6 per cent to 74.4 per cent, comparable to the best centres in the world.

Management and monitoring were the key to the higher cure rate, she said. Patients are contacted if they fail to show up for one session.

Twenty-five years later, many patients have grown up with the ward that treated them. Some 440 children have passed the five-year mark, 140 of whom have grown up.

Twenty-one former patients have married and 17 have a total of 20 children, according to hospital records. ' All the children are healthy. None have any problems,' Professor Hu said.

One of her proudest moments came when a former patient designed an outfit for her to wear to the National People's Congress session. The man had been admitted for treatment in 1979 and grew up to become a fashion designer.

At last month's NPC session, the doctor appealed to the Government to launch a nationwide medical insurance scheme for children.

The three-year treatment programme costs up to 160,000 yuan (HK$151,000), including medication and accommodation.

The most critical period - the first three months - costs up to 50,000 yuan. Most of the burden is carried by the parents.

Shanghai became the first city to introduce such a scheme, requiring cover of 36 yuan a year for each child.

The daughter of a prominent Beijing capitalist, Hu Xianmin, Professor Hu was educated at elite institutions, including Beijing University.

During the Cultural Revolution, the family home was raided by Red Guards. Then in charge of the physician department at Beijing's Children's hospital, she was dragged out of bed at midnight in 1967 and badly beaten, including blows to the head with a hammer.

'I still suffer from memory loss and headache sometimes,' she said.

She is planning to set up China's first tumour treatment centre for children, after a successful battle to gain funding.

Professor Hu gives little thought to retirement. As a senior adviser to the Government on medical issues her opinions are always in demand.



Doctor winning fight against childhood leukaemia