Nansha's healthcare transformation: veteran TCM doctor's 2-decade journey

On Aug 19, China's ninth Doctors' Day, Guangzhou's Nansha district marked two decades of healthcare progress, during which time it has grown from having limited medical facilities to becoming home to several leading hospitals.

Lin Jinhong, a nationally recognized senior traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） expert and first chairman of the Nansha District Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was born on Longxue island in 1962. He spent years at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University before returning to Nansha in 2005, when the district was established.

Lin Jinhong (second from left). [Photo/WeChat account: nanshafabu]

At that time, the local hospital had few patients and only two TCM practitioners. Lin helped transform it into the Nansha District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, training young doctors and building a pain department that became a Guangzhou municipal key specialty in traditional Chinese medicine in 2009.

As Nansha expanded, institutions such as the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Nansha) and Nansha Branch of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine arrived. The district's TCM hospital also moved into a new campus and opened a service center for Hong Kong and Macao residents.

"Curing patients, especially difficult cases, brings me a joy that nothing else can," he said, describing Nansha's medical journey as "from nothing to something, from small to large, from weak to strong."