Visiting doctor Li Naishi examines a diabetes patient in Xizang. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Culture and cures

Dietary habits were a problem Li had to address to treat diabetes. People in Xizang have been eating highland barley and drinking butter tea all their lives, a practice that is part of their culture. Li recalled one patient aged about 40 who didn't believe that diabetes had anything to do with consuming butter tea.

Li had introduced the continuous glucose monitoring system to the hospital, which was considered high-tech at the time. The first day he asked the patient to drink butter tea before testing the patient's blood sugar level. The second day the patient drank soybean milk and was tested again.

After seeing the drastic difference in blood sugar levels, the patient began to take Li's advice.

"That patient is from the Han ethnic group," Li said.

"For Tibetans, a change of diet can be more difficult. I don't want to disrespect their custom, so through the years endocrinologists in Lhasa and I have been trying to find a way to help Tibetan diabetes patients accept a dietary plan that can prevent a rapid increase in blood glucose levels while also taking into account their lifestyle habits."

The hospital's endocrinology department opened in 2011 and started its own ward in 2023.

Now Li revisits the hospital about once a year to help with medical research. He shares his medical knowledge with local doctors.

Li is also guiding local doctors to write a popular science book about diabetes in the Tibetan language, which aims to help spread awareness about the disease. He hopes the hospital can be an example for other medical institutions in the region to improve the overall management of endocrine diseases.

Despite all his medical achievements in Xizang, Li said what impressed him most during his stay was when a patient who couldn't speak Mandarin quickly found a stranger on the street to help him translate.