From: xinhua@zaogao.plus.com   
      
   By the skin of his, um, grapes   
      
   By Sun Li and Shao Wei (China Daily)   
      
   Updated: 2011-06-28   
      
      
   URUMQI - Zhuang Shihua enjoys peeling the skin of a grape with a long   
   and delicate pair of forceps.   
      
   The 54-year-old military surgeon has no interest in eating the juicy and   
   tender grape flesh. The only thing he cares about is using this unique   
   method to improve his skills and reduce medical errors.   
      
   Zhuang, president of the hospital affiliated to the Xinjiang Armed   
   Police Corps in the far west city of Urumqi, has been in the armed   
   police for 38 years.   
      
   Working in a region that has a high rate of liver and gallbladder   
   disease, Zhuang has long been concerned about the risk of performing   
   gallbladder surgery.   
      
   "To succeed in a gallbladder surgery is very difficult as the   
   gallbladder wall is thinner than paper, and any misstep in the operation   
   could cause massive hemorrhaging, putting the patient's life in   
   jeopardy," Zhuang explained.   
      
   In the early 1990s, the doctor initiated the practice of peeling grapes   
   with medical gadgets because he found the peeling process resembled the   
   procedure of a gallbladder surgery.   
      
   Every sweltering summer, when the famous Xinjiang fruit becomes fully   
   ripe, Zhuang turns his room into a testing ground and spends hours   
   gripping and peeling grapes with surgical clamps in front of a mirror.   
      
   "At the beginning, even though I was often soaked with sweat and   
   experienced severe soreness in my arms, I damaged the grapes when   
   peeling them, which suggested a possible danger in a real operation,"   
   Zhuang said.   
      
   After months of practice, Zhuang could quickly peel grapes without   
   mutilating them, and with his excellent skills he can peel the   
   gallbladder away from the liver in 47 seconds.   
      
   But back in 1992, when Zhuang started to conduct such surgeries, it took   
   four and a half hours to complete one.   
      
   "But my family ate peeled grapes every day for nearly half a year.   
   That's almost unbearable," Zhuang continued, laughing.   
      
   Zhuang's medical expertise brought him many opportunities to make a fortune.   
      
   One time, a businessman who operated a private hospital asked Zhuang to   
   head his hospital and offered him an annual salary of 1 million yuan   
   ($154,000).   
      
   "He didn't understand why I stayed in Xinjiang in the first place. All I   
   want is to serve patients here and I won't use my ability to earn   
   personal profits," said Zhuang, who refused the businessman and has   
   declined many other lucrative offers.   
      
   Born into a poor family in the remote mountain village of Jianyang,   
   Sichuan province, Zhuang completed his middle school education with the   
   help of his hometown folks and then joined the army.   
      
   "I always have a grateful heart toward people and the army, as they   
   offered me great help," he said.   
      
   But Zhuang's endless enthusiasm comes from "a shameful experience".   
      
   In the late 1970s, Zhuang served as an assistant military medic in the   
   Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. During a snowstorm one night when the   
   doctor was absent, a group of Kazakh herders brought a patient who was   
   vomiting and yelling in pain.   
      
   "At that time I was terrified, as I knew nothing about medical treatment   
   except acupuncture. I had to let them go to the nearby hospital about 40   
   kilometers away," Zhuang recalled.   
      
   The group of herders spoke no word to Zhuang and gave him "a   
   disappointed glance".   
      
   "I can't forget their disappointment, which has become the endless   
   driving force for my study and work on medical treatment," Zhuang recalled.   
      
   Now the hospital where Zhuang works is decorated with hundreds of   
   thank-you pennants from former patients - some from Xinjiang, some from   
   inland provinces and even some from Brazil, Russia and the United States.   
      
   Over the past decades, the devoted physician has also led a medical   
   squad sending supplies and assistance to people by walking on   
   snow-capped plateaus and mountains.   
      
   "The harsh weather and the terrible road condition always slowed us   
   down," Zhuang said, recalling a visit he paid to a Uygur soldier on   
   patrol alone in an isolated ranch.   
      
   "It took us four hours to brave the sleet cutting like a knife and trek   
   through five kilometers of ankle-deep snow."   
      
   Still, Zhuang doesn't think he has succeeded in his endeavor to be a   
   good doctor.   
      
   "People commonly regard a doctor's main job as curing sickness and   
   saving the patient. But I think the more important task for a doctor is   
   to prevent disease. It would be the biggest pride for any doctor if   
   people suffer no disease and have happy lives," he said.   
      
   Mao Weihua contributed to this story.   
      
      
   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-06/28/content_12788632.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)