China has ramped up efforts to provide healthcare to poverty stricken areas. Our reporter Ning Hong pays a visit to a leading hospital in the capital Beijing, where a group of poor children are receiving life-saving medical treatment.

A group of children coming from some of China's most remote and poorest places, Nanjian in Yunnan Province, and Liangshan in Sichuan Province, are going to receive treatment for congenital heart disease in the First Hospital of Tsinghua University. Doctors here are among the best in the field in all of China.

ZHANG MINGKUI President, First Hospital of Tsinghua University "We've adopted a model: first health insurance from the local government will cover part of the cost, then the social welfare foundation funds a portion, and the hospital has substantially reduced the costs of medical care. This allows families of children to undergo free surgery to cover diseases from common to complex cases. Over the past decade, we've treated more than 4 thousand children. The operations were all successful."

Congenital heart disease is a major cause of death for children under five. But with proper and timely treatment, most cases fully recover. The key, as President Zhang says, is to detect the problem early on.

MISS CHEN Family member of patient "My daughter was diagnosed last year and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've decided to wait for a while. But the local authority called us lately and here we are."

Chen's daughter is lucky as she was diagnosed at a very young age. Among the group of patients, there are teenagers as well.

LI HONGYIN Director, Cardiac Surgery Department, First Hospital of Tsinghua University "Twenty percent of the patients we receive from poverty stricken areas such as Liangshan and Guizhou have complex congenital heart disease. But we're happy to see that the average age of our patients is dropping, which means the work of early diagnosis is working."

After a morning checkup, Doctor Li heads to the operating room, where he'll spend the rest of the day. Chen's daughter is also ready for surgery, and doctors choose subtle methods to reduce the harm to her body.

The demands are high on the surgeons. But the hospital is training doctors from across China for early diagnosis and treatment. Luckily for Chen's family, they won't have to wait any longer for that day to come. Ning Hong, CGTN, Beijing.