URUMQI — Rural doctor Kuwanam Imin makes home visits to villagers every day. Recently, he has been paying closer attention to patients with existing health conditions in the wake of the country's new focus on rural areas as part of its current COVID-19 response strategy.

Doctors like Kuwanam Imin and grassroots medical institutions in the vast rural areas of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have played a vital role in providing tiered, timely and convenient medical services to rural residents.

Kasim Sebi, 81, a resident of Shengli village in Kuqa city in Aksu prefecture, experienced fatigue two weeks ago. His family reported his condition to doctors who visited him to carry out a COVID-19 antigen test.

He was diagnosed with a mild COVID-19 infection. Kuwanam Imin was among the doctors paying home visits, providing the elderly patient with free medicine and physical checkups over the following week. Thanks to the treatment, the senior recovered in around a week.

Kuwanam Imin said that elderly villagers with existing health conditions like high blood pressure have been receiving special attention from doctors since last month. Once a family member reports a COVID-19 infection or if the symptoms are found during home visits, doctors provide treatment or transfer the patient to a superior medical institution in the event of more serious symptoms.

Less than a kilometer from the village, a township health center with 100 staff members can also provide treatment and has sufficient medicine to treat COVID-19 infections.

"The current stockpile is enough for 20 percent of the township for two months. We also have equipment such as defibrillators, electrocardiographs, oxygenerators and ventilators," said the center's Turgunjan Turdi, adding that patients in severe and critical condition can be quickly transferred to higher-level hospitals by ambulance.

Xu Liangliang, Party chief of the health commission of Kuqa city, said that the focus of epidemic prevention and control efforts in rural areas is to protect residents and prevent severe cases.

"We will continue to strengthen the health management and monitoring of key groups, enhance the capacity of medical care for COVID-19 in rural areas and improve treatment of severe cases," Xu said.

Xinhua