Over the past two years, Zhang Weida has traveled several times to remote Tibetan counties and Lhasa, the region's capital, to give free medical checks to about 20,000 children. Provided to China Daily

For doctor Zhang Weida, the Tibet autonomous region is not only a holy land filled with blue skies and vast grasslands, but also a high-risk place for congenital heart disease.

Over the past two years, Zhang, director of the cardiothoracic surgery department of the General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command of the People's Liberation Army, has traveled several times to remote Tibetan counties and Lhasa, the region's capital, to give free medical checks to about 20,000 children.

"The region is highly vulnerable to congenital heart disease due to its high altitude," Zhang says.

On his first trip to Tibet in July, 2012, Zhang spent five days in Nagqu, Baingoin and Nyima and gave free checks to 639 children suffering from the disease.

He decided to bring some 70 children diagnosed with the disease to Guangzhou to give them free surgery.

"Congenital heart disease can be fatal if untreated. But most children can be totally healthy after the surgery," Zhang says.

After the first trip, Zhang, along with his team members, successfully performed free surgery on 126 Tibetan children suffering from the disease, sources with Guangzhou hospital said.

"I felt very happy and satisfied when their lives returned to normal after the surgery," Zhang says.

Zhang was speaking after a successful visit by a group of 23 Tibetan children who went to Guangzhou to receive free surgery on March 21.

Zhang, 56, established the cardiothoracic surgery department after he was assigned to the General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command of the People's Liberation Army in June, 2006.

"I was surprised to discover that there are over ten thousand children suffering congenital heart disease each year in Guangdong. And most children are from families with low incomes," Zhang says.

According to the Guangdong health and family planning authority, about 8 percent of newborn babies are diagnosed with the disease each year in Guangdong.

After visiting a remote mountainous area of Guangdong, Zhang found that many children with the disease do not receive surgery due to the high cost of the treatment,

In Puning county of Jieyang, in eastern Guangdong, only 3 percent of children diagnosed with the disease received surgery, according to Zhang.

"I was very sad. They (children with congenital heart disease) would have a better life if they received surgery," Zhang says.

The free surgery was possible thanks to a charity program, which was jointly launched by the Guangdong Civil Affairs Department and Guangdong Charity Federation in April, 2007.

The program first targeted people under 18 years old in Guangdong and later expanded nationwide, according to Zhang.

As a veteran doctor specializing in congenital heart disease surgery, Zhang has visited more places outside Tibet - including the Xinjiang Urgur autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong and Hunan provinces to offer free surgery to more than 7,000 children diagnosed with the disease over the past seven years.

"Most children suffering from continental heart disease are living in poverty stricken areas and their families cannot afford the high cost of medical treatment. Free surgeries are of great importance when giving a new life to the family," Zhang says.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn