TIANJIN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Mahmoud Alsalehi sanitized his hands before walking toward the sickbed of a young patient, gently shaking a toy to delight the 1-year-old who just had surgery for congenital heart disease.
When the kid relaxed, Alsalehi leaned down carefully, put a stethoscope on the child's chest, and listened to the child's heart.
As a well-loved doctor by kids, Alsalehi was called "Uncle Lao Ma," a nickname derived from the first syllable of his given name.
"Ma" literally means horse in Chinese, which represents diligence. "I like this name, and it makes me feel very close to the kids," he said.
Alsalehi, 39, who hails from Palestine, now works as the director of Pediatric Cardiology II and Pediatric ICU Department in TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital in north China's Tianjin Municipality.
During his training in a children hospital in Canada, Alsalehi got a chance to work for the TEDA hospital in August 2019.
"I accepted immediately. China is a very close friend to Palestine and helped us a lot. I hope to help more Chinese children with congenital heart disease to give back to China," Alsalehi said.
With the help of Chinese colleagues, Alsalehi soon acclimatized himself to his new working environment.
Shuttling between patients' sickbeds, screening and monitoring their heart conditions, reviewing the echocardiogram and checking their nursing records, Alsalehi and his colleagues are always busy making tailored medical and surgical plans for each child.
"I often joke around and said that my colleagues are like 'motors' that work ceaselessly. I really admire these dedicated Chinese doctors who are considerate to their patients," Alsalehi said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric patients had to stay in the ICU alone after surgeries. Without their parents' company, they were prone to loneliness and anxiety, a major concern for doctors.
Pediatric doctors including Alsalehi himself racked their brains to console the young patients.
"Even though I cannot speak too much Chinese, I try my best to express my kindness through smiles and eye contact," Alsalehi said, adding that he treated them as his own children.
Since 2004, the hospital has worked with local authorities and plenty of charities to carry out dozens of projects to provide free surgeries for children with congenital heart disease from poor families.
Their surgery expenses are completely covered by charity projects, which have already reached 24 provincial-level regions of the country.
Alsalehi said he hopes to be dispatched to remote regions in China, which were once haunted by poverty, to help kids with congenital heart disease there, like what his colleagues have done for years as part of the country's anti-poverty efforts.
"It would make me happy to see those less-privileged children enjoy a normal life again," he said.
In the future, Alsalehi plans to go back to Palestine and build a professional pediatric cardiology team. "I hope to do something for my people and my country. The experience I gain in China will definitely be useful." Enditem
