I talked to ophthalmologist Lilia Popova on Skype. She told about how she moved from Almaty to the Chinese city of Daqing. At some point, she got distracted by a phone call. "I am busy right now, you go to the gym, I'll join you later," she promises a colleague on the phone. Nothing unusual, if you don't know that Lilia Anatolyevna is 83 years old. She went to China to work after retiring.

 

"I went for three months, but stayed for 25 years," she says.

 

Lilia Popova was born in 1940 in the village of Zalari, Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation. When I was in high school, the family moved to the East Kazakhstan city of Leninogorsk (now – Ridder). Deciding to become a doctor, Lilia tried to enter to the Almaty Medical Institute, but failed. The English exam turned out to be too difficult for a graduate of a provincial school. The girl got a job as a nurse and hired an English tutor. Two years later, when she was already entering the Semipalatinsk Medical University, she heard from the examiners, "Are you sure you didn't choose the wrong institute? You should have chosen a university of linguistics." After the 4th year, Lilia got married and transferred to the Asfendiyarov Almaty Medical Institute.

 

"While studying at the Institute, I visited the Faculty of Eye Diseases, where for the first time I realized what blindness was, and witnessed a patient recovering a sense of light or beginning to see the first lines in the Sivtsev table (to determine visual acuity). All this strengthened my desire to become an ophthalmologist," Lilia says.

 

After studying, Dr. Popova worked for 15 years at the Almaty Research Institute of Eye Diseases, having worked her way from a resident to the head of the department. She was an operating surgeon, received the title of an excellent health worker of the USSR and a diploma of "Master - golden hands". For the next 17 years, she worked at the Central City Clinical Hospital and headed the eye microsurgery department. One day, a delegation of doctors from China visited the Hospital, and among the participants was the director of the eye clinic Yu Yaoguang.  

 

In 1998, when Lilia had been retired for three years, she still worked in a private clinic. She met an ophthalmologist surgeon Saulebek Kabylbekov. Yu Yaoguang invited Kabylbekov to his clinic in Daqing, northeast China, in Heilongjiang Province. Saulebek Satovich, after talking with Yu Yaoguang, invited Dr. Popova to go with him.

 

Lilia Popova with Saulebek Kabylbekov

PHOTO from personal archive

 

"On Monday we sent the documents, on Thursday we received a visa, and on Friday we already flew to Daqing," the interlocutor recalls her almost adventurous act. "Then it was a small town, built up with five-storey buildings with flat roofs and dirty sidewalks. And the clinic consisted of several rented offices in the hospital. But it was very interesting for me to work! Saulebek disappeared in the operating room, I was at the reception. We had 70-100 patients a day." The fact is that Daqing is an oil town. Sandstorms often cause eye diseases in oil industry workers.

High salary, good conditions, caring management, colorful holidays – China fascinated a doctor from Kazakhstan. Returning 10 months later, Lilia stayed at home for only two weeks before going back to Daqing.

A year later, Yu Yaoguang moved his clinic to an 8-storey building and, with the help of Kazakh doctors, fully equipped it.

 

With Director of Daqing Ophthalmology Clinic Yu Yaoguang

PHOTO from personal archive

 

"We studied new diagnostic equipment, went to the counties for free consultations, gave lectures, brought patients with us for surgery, trained young doctors," the doctor says. "Now my students are leading professionals not only in our hospital, but also in other cities of China, winning surgical competitions".

In 2005, Lilia Popova was invited to Beijing, where Executive Secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Hua Jianmin awarded her Friendship Prize medal - the highest award of the People's Republic of China for foreign experts who have made an outstanding contribution to the economy and social progress of the country.

 

Lilia Popova

PHOTO from personal archive

 

"I was happy that my professional work was so highly appreciated in China and that I did not let down my teachers. After receiving the medal, I flew up the steps of the hall as if I had wings. I was proud of myself and for Kazakhstan – I was one of the awardees from Kazakhstan," Lilia says emotionally.

The city and the clinic were developing before her eyes. Ophthalmologists moved from an eight-storey building to a 17-storey one.

 

"There were 30 employees, and now there are more than 300 people. We all are friends. If I have an anniversary, the whole hospital celebrates it. We gather with colleagues for the holidays, cook beshbarmak, baursaks, pilaf, and treat employees. Our manager built a restaurant next to the hospital and named it Lily. "We have dinner in this restaurant every day," Dr. Popova smiles. "Once, at the invitation of Saulebek, a Moscow ophthalmologist professor Nikolai Dushin visited us. He saw our friendly working environment, stayed and worked with us for 10 years. Six people from Kazakhstan also visited here at our invitation. Larisa Nikolaichuk, my student, has been working with us for the last three years, she was the chief ophthalmologist of Almaty.

 

In August, she is going to Beijing for a conference within the One Belt, One Road project to present her report. I advised her to choose gene therapy as a topic, which is used in the treatment of hereditary diseases, and we have a lot of hereditary eye diseases."

 

Despite more than 50 years of experience, Lilia is constantly studying, reading scientific literature. She is aware of the latest achievements of medicine. "In ophthalmology, it is the only way, you have to constantly study, new techniques are constantly emerging. For example, in the past we performed a surgery on glaucoma (a disease that leads to blindness — F) standing up, using only a magnifying glass. Then they invented the Krasnogvardeyets microscope, then - chairs with armrests. Now look at modern microscopes! With cataract we used to make an incision of the cornea as big as possible to remove the cloudy lens. It was called "open sky surgery". And now they are making an incision of 1.5-2 mm, and not with a scalpel, but with a laser — this is some kind of miracle!".

 

PHOTO from personal archive

 

During her life in China, Lilia Popova not only treated patients, but also actively participated in public life. Many times she took part in parades dedicated to the celebration of the Day of Education of the People's Republic of China. Participating in the competition of the best Daqing professionals, she entered the top ten.

"There were many events where I was among the guests of honor, for example, I presented prizes at a singing competition. I especially remember the Sympathy of the Residents of Heilongjiang Province contest participated by Chinese astronauts. Following the competition, I shared the victory with the astronauts," Lilia recalls.

Today, Dr. Popova is always on the move. "I recently went to a festival in Harbin. A week ago I was at a tourism forum. Daqing is a very green city, surrounded by hundreds of lakes, there is a Mongolian village nearby, it is very picturesque," she says.

When Kazakhs doctors were just starting to work, there were earthen floors in schools and medical centers in Daqing, rooms were heated with iron stoves. Then China started to rapidly transform into an economic giant. Today, Daqing, which has grown several times, is full of  skyscrapers, bridges and interchanges.

 

Young Kazakh Researcher Develops Electronic Skin

 

"It's a pleasure to work here. We, specialists from Kazakhstan and Russia, are provided with housing at the clinic. There are all conditions for a comfortable stay, on the second floor there is a dining room where we have breakfast and lunch. The 13th and 14th floors are residential, I have a three-room apartment there. On the 16th floor there is a sports hall, there is all the fitness equipment, billiards, lawn and table tennis," Lilia says. "I have a VIP office, there is an ophthalmological combine on which you can immediately make all the diagnostics: look at the fundus, refraction of the eye, the periphery of the retina, etc. A specialized interpreter helps us."

In Chinese, Lilia can converse in the store or on the street, she also knows ophthalmological terms. But her first interpreter Hou Cunbin, hearing how she was trying to explain herself to the patient, shook his head, "Depending on the tone, the meaning of the word changes, you might say something absolutely different, even something indecent." My job requires a lot of talking, because I have to explain my actions to patients. Medicine is paid here, the Chinese count their money, and A patient will not agree if they do not understand why an examination is scheduled," the doctor notes and adds, "Over the years I have examined more than 200 thousand patients, treated whole generations, working with no margin for error."

In 2016, the Chinese government issued Lilia Popova a residence permit for 10 years, so the doctor will continue to live and work in Daqing for several more years.

 

PHOTO from personal archive

 

"It's even more interesting to work now!" She exclaims. "New diagnostic equipment, new techniques. Yes, and I have grown accustomed to my patients – those whom I treated 20 years ago come and say, "I had an appointment with you and now I have come to you specifically." I love my profession, I treat patients with respect. Restoring vision is a great joy!"

 

Author: Tatiana Panchenko