What's in a Tibetan baby name?

Visiting medics are helping bolster services in remote areas of the land

After just a week in Tsonyi, China's highest-elevation county, doctor Huo Zhiping had two babies named after him, because he performed C-sections on their mothers.

Huo, an obstetrician with a medical team from the Central Hospital of China National Petroleum Corp, was a volunteer in the Tibet autonomous region's Tsonyi this summer.

The newborns, Huo Dangsheng and Huo Yousheng, were the first babies delivered locally via C-section in the county, most of which is about 5,000 meters above sea level.

Stories in names

With her baby boy in arms, Chode remembers her fear about his birth. She was diagnosed with a deficiency of amniotic fluid, and the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.

"Chode needed a C-section, but we had never performed one," said Changchub Drolma, head of the Tsonyi People's Hospital, the county's only hospital.

Expectant mothers like Chode are usually transferred to hospitals in Lhasa, across more than 700 kilometers of mountain roads. "The trip was perilous for both mothers and babies," Changchub Drolma said.

Above: Doctors take care of baby girl Huo Yousheng (left) and boy Huo Dangsheng (right) at the People's Hospital of Tsonyi County. Top: Huo Dangsheng arrives into the world via a cesarean procedure at the People's Hospital. Photo/Xinhua

Chode was lucky, as the medical team was in the county for a week.

"On the plateau, it's hard to know the condition of mother and baby with such little natural oxygen," said Zhang Yanzong, who led the medical team.

Huo pointed out that Chode was 36 years old, which made complications such as postpartum bleeding more likely.

The altitude also affected the doctors, who had to perform the operation while breathing bottled oxygen. "Lack of oxygen makes you slow in your reactions," Huo said.

After one and a half hours, a baby boy was delivered.

"Thanks to doctor Huo and others in the medical team," said new father Pasang. The couple decided to name their son after Huo, so he would remember who had saved his life.

One day later, Sangye Drolma, 28, came to the hospital from a township more than 200 km away. Signs indicated that the birth of her child might be difficult.

After a C-section lasting about 70 minutes, her daughter was born. She also named the girl after Huo.

These stories remind Yang Wensheng, Tsonyi's Party chief, of his own family. His mother had a difficult delivery when giving birth to his older sister in Shaanxi province more than 60 years ago. The doctor on duty told his parents that only one could survive, either the mother or the baby.

"It was their first baby," he said.

But a doctor, surnamed Yang, rushed to the hospital from home and performed surgery that saved both mother and baby girl.

"My father felt so indebted that he decided to name my sister after the doctor. He even said no matter how many children he had, they would all be named Yang," he recalled.

The Tibetan family kept its word. All nine children have the name Yang.

Patients crowd into a consulting room at the People's Hospital of Tsonyi County. Photo/Xinhua

Improved medicare

Home delivery was traditionally preferred in rural Tibet, causing high maternal and infant mortality. Tibetans believed that home births were more natural and it was difficult for many who lived in remote areas to get to the hospital.

When the plateau was liberated in 1951, its maternal and infant mortality rates stood at 50 per and 430 per 1,000 respectively. The figures had dropped to 1 and 16 per 1,000 by 2015.

Behind the change is improved medical care and more acceptance of hospital births. More than 90 percent of Tibetan women now choose hospital births.

The regional government covers the costs for mothers from rural areas and offers a one-off payment of 1,000 yuan ($150) each time they deliver in a hospital.

With 22 medical workers, the Tsonyi People's Hospital can treat simple illnesses and perform some surgery. Patients with severe problems still have to go to Lhasa.

"The medical situation in Tsonyi has improved a lot in recent years," Yang said. Tibetans who were once unable to afford to see a doctor can now regularly visit government clinics and hospitals.

Through a government "pairing-up" program since 1994, various provinces, municipalities, central government departments and State-owned enterprises have provided personnel, materials and financial and technological support to Tibet.

In 2002, China National Petroleum Corp, the nation's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, began to support the county, said Li Anming, director with the emergency office of CNPC Central Hospital.

The medical team from Central Hospital of China National Petroleum Corp poses for a group photo in Tsonyi county, Tibet autonomous region. Photo/Xinhua

Affiliated hospitals started to send medical teams to the county in 2009. So far, nearly 100 doctors have volunteered to go there. Tibetan doctors and nurses also visit affiliated hospitals for training each year.

Huo's medical team received more than 950 patients and performed four operations, including the two C-sections, in just a week.

"Most of the patients traveled over 200 km to see us. I was touched by their trust," Huo said.

Before leaving Tsonyi, Huo put the photos of the two Tibetan babies in his suitcase. "I started missing this place before I even left, missing my 'daughter' and 'son'," he said.

Xinhua