It's a career path she never expected, but Dr Carol Ng says she wouldn't have it any other way.

The paediatric radiologist at Hong Kong Children's Hospital uses cutting-edge imaging and virtual reality to help young patients suffering from rare congenital heart diseases.

Ng is one of millions of doctors across China whose dedication and hard work will be honoured on Chinese Doctors' Day on Wednesday.

She's burdened with making life-or-death decisions on a regular basis, and recalls one exceptional case when she had to halt life support for a critically ill newborn baby in order to get a clear scan of his heart.

The baby had been relying on a machine to pump blood through his body. But when doctors injected a special dye to make the needed scans, they couldn't get enough to a particular area to see what was happening clearly.

"I actually needed to work together with the intensivist, the anaesthesiologist, as well as the cardiologist [and] cardiothoracic surgeons to discuss and to decide that we will stop the machine very temporarily for about 30 seconds so that we can acquire the images where the contrast goes into places that would not have been if the machine had been running," she said.

"And after extensive discussion and adequate preparation with briefing and rehearsals, we managed to execute the scan and we got some pretty nice diagnostic images to aid at the next part of treatment."

Another doctor, Samuel Lo, of Eastern Hospital specialises in blood vessel surgery – a technically-demanding and high-stakes field that requires microscopic precision and complex decision-making to save lives.

He cites acute aortic aneurysm as one example – a condition that can be fatal if not treated in time.

"An aneurysm can expand and eventually rupture. If it bursts, it can cause severe internal bleeding and death. But if we can operate quickly and repair the blood vessel, we can save the patient's life," he said.

Chinese Doctors' Day is celebrated every year on August 19, to honour medical professionals across the country for their life-saving work. It was approved by the State Council in 2017 and first celebrated in 2018.



Edited by Cecil Wong