Liu Haiying, male, Han nationality, born in February 1964, is the director, chief physician, professor and doctoral supervisor of spine surgery department of Peking University People's Hospital. As a famous spine surgery expert in China, he has been engaged in spine surgery for more than 30 years. In November 2011, he established the Beijing Haiying Spine Health Public Welfare Foundation initiatively. He has devoted himself to public welfare for more than 10 years. He donated some of his bonuses and wages to the foundation, with a cumulative donation of more than 1 million yuan, accumulatively treating 173 people with severe spinal diseases in poverty. With his superb medical skills and selfless dedication, he has won the trust and praise of patients, and has been generally recognized by the society.
Zhong Dongbo (left), Secretary of the Party Committee of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, entrusted by the Capital Spiritual Civilization Construction Committee, presented the award to Liu Haiying at the branch venue of the Capital Spiritual Civilization Construction Conference. Photo by Zhang Zhengyou
With the benevolence of doctors, he takes the relief of the patient's pain as his own responsibility
After returning from studying in Germany in 1997, Liu Haiying led the establishment of the earliest spine surgery department in China - the spine surgery of Peking University People's Hospital, and has stuck to surgery all the year round, with an average annual operation volume of more than 800, which makes him one of the doctors with the largest spine surgery volume in China. The spine surgery team led by him has completed 10,000 spine surgeries with few complications, and is at the national leading level in the diagnosis and treatment of severe spinal deformities and degenerative diseases. Liu Haiying is the first in China to carry out minimally invasive spine surgery such as thoracic discectomy under thoracic surgery. Aiming at the shortcomings of spinal fusion surgery for many years, he has been committed to clinical research on non-fusion spine surgery, including. The non-fusion surgeries volume of elastic internal fixation between spinous processes and artificial disc replacement of anterior cervical three-segment ranks first in China. For patients with severe cervical spondylotic myelopathy, the team carried out the posterior cervical laminectomy firstly in China. The more advanced titanium plate for posterior cervical laminectomy was adopted, avoiding the phenomenon of "re-closing" and ensuring the effect of the surgery. For middle-aged and elderly patients with severe degenerative scoliosis, the posterior lumbar scoliosis correction and the responsible segment decompression and internal fixation have been vigorously carried out and improved, greatly reducing complications and achieving good results. In view of the changes in the spectrum of orthopedic diseases in the elderly, the treatment sequence of lumbar spine diseases and lower extremity joint diseases was first proposed at home and abroad, exploring a successful way for the degenerative diseases of Chinese people.
Small love merges into big love, a public welfare fund
On July 22, 2016, Liu Haiying visited the Tibet Children's Welfare Institute. (Photo provide by Peking University People's Hospital)
At the outpatient clinic, Liu Haiying often sees some patients with spinal deformities causing visceral failure, and some are about to be paralyzed. The patients are often full of hope, but they never return because they have no money for medical treatment. As a doctor, Liu Haiying felt bad. When encountering such patients, he often used his money to help them advance some expenses, but it was unsustainable for a long time. Liu Haiying began to realize that if there were more donations, with the medical skills of his team, many families could be saved.
After many efforts, in November 2011, Beijing Haiying Spine Health Public Welfare Foundation was formally established. It is the first charity organization in China to specifically fund spine-related diseases, and it is also the only foundation in China that focuses on spine health. The start-up funds all come from Liu Haiying and the donations made by the medical service objects of the team, patients and family members. It is also one of the few pure expert and technology based foundations in China.
For more than 10 years, Liu Haiying and his team of medical experts and volunteers have been conducting public welfare free clinics during holidays. The free clinics has covered the deeply impoverished areas in the "three regions and three prefectures", and they have went deep into the poverty-stricken areas in the central and western parts of China to deliver medicine and conduct free clinics. The team has traveled over 200,000 kilometers in 43 impoverished counties and cities in 16 provinces including Tibet and Xinjiang.
In order to cooperate with China’s battle of poverty alleviation and prevent the masses from returning to poverty due to illness, Professor Liu Haiying's team has established 19 national spinal disease relief centers across the country, and has successively provided free clinics for more than 6,000 patients in remote and impoverished areas. In Ningxia and Shanxi, 3 "Building the Spine Together, Focusing on Prevention" Chinese Adolescent Scoliosis Screening and Rescue Action Workstations have been established to conduct professional scoliosis screening for nearly 50,000 teenagers. Nine medical expert workstations have been established in Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Jiangxi and other places, and thousands of grass-roots doctors have been trained in targeted small classes through joint lectures, forums, and surgery explanations. A total of 173 patients in poverty with severe spinal diseases have been treated, bringing hope to 127 families which have returned to poverty or become impoverished due to illness.
"The spine is straight and upright, so is the dignity of being a person"
Liu Haiying provided free consultation for Tibetan patients while inhaling oxygen. (Photo provided by Peking University People's Hospital)
In 2006, Liu Haiying met Ma Xiucai in Darui Town, Yuexi County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. This Tibetan child not only had scoliosis, but also had a congenital spinal canal problem in the development of the spinal cord. As an orphan, he dropped out of school to take care of his younger siblings at home. Walking into Ma Xiucai's house, Liu Haiying saw several "three good students" certificates posted on the wall in the dilapidated furniture. Liu Haiying told him firmly, "I'll find a way for you". With the help of Liu Haiying and his hospital colleagues, Ma Xiucai came to Beijing for a smooth operation. Finally, the boy with a distorted body straightened his back. After regaining health, Ma Haixiu was admitted to the university, and he will also return to the hospital as a volunteer during the holidays. After graduation, he chose to go to the countryside to be a poverty alleviation cadre.
Zeren Yongzhong comes from a poor Tibetan family deep in the mountains of Litang, Sichuan. He suffers from severe thoracolumbar kyphosis and his body is severely distorted. The deformity of the spine is progressively aggravated, causing pain in both lower extremities, difficulty in walking, and even severe compression of the heart and other internal organs, which is life-threatening. After learning about the child's condition, Liu Haiying took her to Beijing for treatment. Zeren Yongzhong suffered from tuberculosis when he was 5 years old. Due to the erosion of tuberculosis bacteria, the thoracic, lumbar and sacral vertebrae have long been deformed, and some of them have almost become hollow. The risk of piercing the nails is extremely high. More than 10 top experts from the Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Infectious Diseases, Respiratory Medicine, Reflexology and other disciplines of Peking University People's Hospital repeatedly consulted for her. After rigorous and bold weighing and argumentation, Liu Haiying finally decided to carried out the surgery immediately. The operation lasted for 7 hours and sweat soaked through the clothes of his whole body. Liu Haiying was so tired that he almost collapsed. After the operation, the height of Zeren Yongzhong increased by 5.5 cm, and the bright smile of a child returned to her innocent face.
During a free clinic in Litang in 2017, Liu Haiying discovered Dexi Lamu. The little girl had congenital scoliosis. At that time, her back had been bent to more than 100 degrees, and her lung function had begun to fail. Even though he has seen many "folded patients", the little girl's appearance still makes Liu Haiying feel anxious. He wanted to treat her. "It's not just to straighten her spine, but to restore her dignity as a human being." Liu Haiying immediately took her to Beijing for treatment. The operation was very successful, and Dexi Lamu suddenly "growed" taller.
On November 10, 2018, Liu Haiying launched the "Passing on the Fire" grassroots doctor training activity at the First People's Hospital of Kashgar, Xinjiang. (Photo provided by Peking University People's Hospital)
He experienced 4 operations due to overwork
After 30 years of medical practice, Liu Haiying relieved the pain of thousands of patients. And he himself was pushed to the operating table 4 times due to overwork. "The whole aorta is blocked, the pain is terrifying, and I can't walk. After the operation, it relapses, and then I do it again. But it will be blocked again after a few years, so I have to have the operation again..." Because the great amount of surgery and work load of free clinics, he went back to work before he was fully recovered. Even so, he still wears a neck brace and waist support every day, and takes more than a dozen medicines to perform standing surgery for more than ten hours a day.
When lying on the operating bed, Liu Haiying never wears a hospital gown. He compares himself to a fighter against disease, who fights to overcome medical problems and defend the health of his patients. "As a soldier, you have to wear a soldier's clothes." In his opinion, "Even if you will die, you should die in your own post."
For more than 30 years, his footsteps have never stopped. He bent his waist tiredly, but straightened the patient's spine.
Liu Haiying has won the "Charity Model" of the 11th China Charity Award of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2020, the "Love Award" of the 15th Global Chinese Public Welfare Award, "China's Good Doctor", CCTV "Most Beautiful Doctor" 2016, nominated person of "Beijing Model" 2017, the eighth "Capital Moral Model" and other honors.
The Capital Moral Model Medal won by Liu Haiying shines brightly. Photo by Zhang Zhengyou