A conscientious operator

Performing intricate surgery, Sun Ning, 65, with the aid of loupes attached to his glasses to magnify his vision, sews around 200 stitches and ties over 1,000 knots to repair a 2-year-old boy's urethra.

During the 90-minute subtle hypospadias repair surgery, Sun is like a tailor, whose aim is to make sure the urethral canal he is remaking is as close to normal, both functionally and outwardly, as possible.

What's more, he has taken the boy's future growth into account, so that when he gets older, the surgery will go unnoticed.

Sun, with 38 years of experience as a pediatrician, is the president of Xinjiang Children's Hospital in Urumqi. He was named one of the nation's 10 "Most Beautiful Doctors "by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the National Health Commission in August, a couple of days ahead of this year's Chinese Doctors' Day.

Sun's colleagues say that he is a great doctor, not just because he cares so passionately about his young patients, but because of his role as a mentor. Moreover, Sun is devoting himself to improving the level of children's medical treatment in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

In 1983, Sun graduated from Capital Medical University with a bachelor's degree in pediatrics. He then worked as a resident physician for three years before deciding to specialize in pediatric urology at Beijing Children's Hospital. Since then, he has performed tens of thousands of intricate and intimate operations.

According to Sun, unlike most surgical operations to remove tumors or organs from the patients, which are destructive, hypospadias repair is reconstructive.

Sun says there are around 300 surgical methods for hypospadias, yet not one sole method can solve all the problems, so the doctors need to keep learning.

As well as studying the latest research and essays, Sun says he also learns from his patients. "You may meet patients who are not satisfied with your treatment. You should learn from them and think how to best solve their problems," he says.

Many of the patients who come to Sun for hypospadias repair have already undergone the surgery, but it has failed, which is more challenging.

Li Kai, 39, a doctor at the pediatric urology department in Xinjiang Children's Hospital, has been working with Sun since last February.

"It's like a dress that has already been cut. Sun then has to remake the dress accordingly," Li explains, adding that, as far as he is concerned, Sun turns the delicate hypospadias repair procedure into an art form.

Li often observes Sun when he performs complicated surgeries. "A lot of knowledge is not written in textbooks, as it is based on experience, and Sun teaches us thoroughly," Li says.

Each day Sun arrives half an hour before the regular ward round starts to check on his patients. "All he cares about is providing the best treatment for the children," Li says.

"He will consider the pros and cons of performing surgery. When it is necessary, he will always think carefully about the best timing," Li says. "He also takes into account the psychological status of the patient."

Sun says that he has learned a lot from his predecessors, including Zhang Jinzhe, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Huang Chengru, who, together with her students, established the department of urology in Beijing Children's Hospital in 1972, one of the earliest specialist pediatric urology centers in China.

"We used to call Zhang Jinzhe Zhangtou (boss Zhang), and whenever you had a problem, you could call him for help and he would come, no matter where he was," Sun says. "He showed us that a doctor should be on call 24/7.

"It made me realize that, as doctors we should not only strive to be the best we can be, but should also nurture the doctors of the future," Sun says.

Called Suntou by his colleagues now, Sun thinks it's not just about training the young doctors how to perform surgery, but also when to operate. "They should know whether the operation should be done or not. If it's necessary, what the consequences may be, and when the consequences occur, how to correct them. Also, they should be aware under what circumstances that surgery is not an option," Sun says.

Meeting challenges

Last year, Sun took on the role of president at Xinjiang Children's Hospital. "The children in Xinjiang need me, so I came here," he says.

Sun is not alone. A couple of executive level staff members from Beijing Children's Hospital came with him to help manage the hospital.

However, when the team arrived in February last year, they realized they would face many unexpected challenges.

As Sun's role has changed, apart from surgery he also has to deal with running the hospital and its plans for development as well as the purchase of equipment and the facility's financial management.

Sun says it's not enough to just have a pediatric department at a children's hospital, the other departments such as imaging, clinical lab and ultrasonography lab are also needed.

Within the last two years, the hospital has established the otolaryngology and ophthalmology departments, and Sun plans to build a cardiothoracic surgery and a nutrition department next.

Sun has also overseen the construction of a new ward building, which is anticipated to come into use next year with 360 more beds, taking the hospital's total to 800.

With more than 1.66 million square kilometers, Xinjiang covers about one-sixth of China's territory. It's a long journey for some patients to get to Urumqi.

When Sun worked in Beijing, patients with rare diseases came to him, so it was usual that they would wait for months for an operation.

"When I came to Xinjiang, I realized how important it is that the patients can get treated locally," Sun says. "Some illnesses that parents assume are incurable actually just require a simple surgery."

Sun's other major projects include visiting counties across Xinjiang to train local doctors and building a network, so that when county level doctors need help, they know who to turn to for help, and when the case is too complicated, Sun's team members can seek assistance from their peers in Beijing.

Sun knows there is still a long way to go for him to help elevate the level of pediatric medical treatment in Xinjiang. "Our aim is to not only set up the new ward and conduct surgeries, but also to train local doctors and build a local team so that more children can get treated in Xinjiang," Sun says.