Part 8 - DW062 001 028 008

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8 BEING ILL IN CHINA Criticising the National Health Service is not very difficult. Even some of its 'experts' agree that it is an unmanageable bureacracy, overstaffed with administrators and understaffed with doctors and overworked nurses. Most families have a personal tale to tell about the N.H.S. - some of them tragic, Yet the working class which finances the health system out of its wages is made to feel grateful for even this ailing service, with programmes on the radio and T.V. describing the plight of many families in other capitalist countries without health system at all. The faults and failings of the N.H.S. are in fact mer- ely symptoms of a bigger ill ness in our society - the social relations which the capitalist system generates. It is not easy to say how socialism would change the N.H.S. exactly - this will be decided after discussions at all levels - in the com- munities and by patients as well as doctors, nurses and other health workers. However, while visiting the People's Republic of China recently along with a small group of academics, I was taken ill with acute append- icitus. It was a real eye- opener to experience at first hand how different things can be under soci- alism. After an emergency opera- tion, I was very surprised to be told that the surge- ons had found a large stone in the appendix which they felt must have caused chron- pain for some years. I had suffered pain in the abdomen for a number of years but had never been given tests and my General Practit- ioner had diagnosed chron- ic constipation! I have never been troubled with such pains since. I have always dreaded the thought of an operat- ion but as I was wheeled into the theatre I felt relaxed and among friends even though I couldn't speak a word of Chinese and the doctors and nurses only spoke a little Eng- lish. This was because just a few days before I had visited a small hospital serving the Two Bridges Commune just outside Pek- ing and seen excellent facilities. We were told that this commune had four dentists, 22 doctors seven surgeons and 17 bar- efoot doctors. (These are more highly trained than nurses but not as qualif- ied as doctors and gener- ally deal with minor ail- ments) QUESTIONS I was not sedated; all my questions were answe- red and I received clear information as how the surgeons proposed to deal with my condition. I was surprised that the operation was carried out under local anaesth- etic, but I was told this was to reduce the feeling of being 'poorly' after the operation which accompanies full anaesth- etics. In fact I was wa- lking about a little, just 18 hours after the oper- ation. (It made me wonder whether the Western prac- tice of using full anaes- thetic was for the doctors' convenience rather than the patients?) Each day in the hosp- ital began early as in most hospitals, with an orderly washing down the walls of my room to counteract the thick dust of Peking which even managed to penetrate the mosquito screens on the windows. While breakfast was brought up in steamers from the kitchen (not very successful in keeping food warm) the nurses and doct- ors piled out on to the sunny terrace for 15 min- utes of 'keep-fit' to music before coming back to start the day at about 7:30 a.m. HISTORY No-one insisted I woke before breakfast was served and I was left to decide when and how I bathed. My surgeon Dr. Chow visited me at least twice a day, and when dressings needed changing or stitch- es removed he did them himself, often serving me orange juice and whatever. He never attempted to pass dirty or menial jobs on to the nurses, if he could do them him- self. Dr. Chow's day seemed to finish about 8p.m. before he returned to his wife and small boys. But this seemed to be from choice as he would often visit just to chat about politics and literature or to relate some of the his- tory of the hospital before going off duty. The Capital Hospital in Peking had been built at the turn of the century for foreign diplomats and businessmen. Most of the Chinese people were denied medical treatment then, and though they built the hospital (a very beautiful building with yellow glaz- ed tiled roof, in the traditional style), they were not allowed to use it. Only after Liberation in 1949 was the hospital thrown open to the people. Every Chinese has the right to walk into any hospital and ask to see a doctor. However, Liberation did not set everything in the hospital right at once. Many of the doctors still lauded themselves over the patients - especially poor people and medical students from poor families. After the Cultural Revol- ution began in 1966 the social relations between, doctors nurses and pat- ients really improved. Even the lowliest orderly in the hospital had the right to criticise the highest consultant... Such a system would prob- ably terrify many of our N.H.S. consultants, but from what I saw in the Capital Hospital it prod- uced real teamwork and seemed to bring all the staff together. Dr. Chow said he had taken part in the Cultural Revolution as a young medical stud- ent and that some of the more progressive sen- ior doctors had also supported this new way. In the end, every one except for a very few reactionaries were won over. (Next month; how I found out that the Chinese slogan 'To Serve the People' is no clichè). Z.A. This new paper, NEW AGE, is a paper of and for the working people of Britain. We hope you will write for us: your views on our society, on the world situation, your own experiences. We want articles, information, letters, and particularly comments and criticisms. Please send all contributions to: NEW AGE October Books 4b Temple Court Liverpool 2. NEW AGE is published by the COMMUNIST WORKERS' MOVEMENT (C.W.M.), which has been formed with the intention of uniting working people and revolutionaries, and uniting with other Marxist- Leninist organisations, in order to build a revolutionary Party of the working class. We aim to apply Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to concrete conditions here. Our Programme, a general expression of our views, is available from the above address at 15p post paid. Copies of NEW AGE 20p post paid. Reductions for bulk orders and discount for shops. please write for details. I NEVER KNEW THE FEUDAL SYSTEM EXISTED UNTIL I CAME TO CLARIDGES - so proclaimed the poster held by this picketing worker at the hotel recently. (See page 2) SUBSCRIBE TO NEW AGE £2 A YEAR Post Pd

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