Adding "Solving Fertility Problems" to the Party Committee's Annual List of Practical Tasks, They Help Officers and Soldiers with the Problem of "Offspring"
Care Delivered in Silence, Good News Arriving Gently
— A News Investigation into Party Committees at All Levels Helping Grassroots Officers and Soldiers Overcome Difficulties with the Correct Outlook on Political Achievement, Part Four
■ PLA Daily Reporters Xu Xiaolong, Ma Jialong, and Zheng Maoqi
A pediatric nurse at Southwest Hospital of Army Medical University tends to a newborn military baby. Photo by Wei Hongping.
Early summer. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau teems with life. One evening, Xiao Wang, a Staff Sergeant Second Class (二级上士) in a certain brigade of the Tibet Military District, returned to his dormitory to find a message suddenly pop up on his phone — his wife had sent him an ultrasound report. Staring at the outline of the gestational sac on the form, Xiao Wang's face broke into an instant smile.
Xiao Wang had waited years for that report. In more than a decade of service, his list of honors had grown steadily, yet one thing had always weighed on his heart — "a barrier harder to cross than a mountain pass in the snow." His fellow soldiers from the same enlistment year already had children in kindergarten, while his wife had yet to conceive.
Year after year, the pressure on Xiao Wang mounted. When his political instructor learned of his difficulty, he called Xiao Wang to his room after evening roll call one day and handed him a document the headquarters had compiled based on higher-level directives — Answers to Questions on the Policy for Routine Diagnosis and Treatment of Infertility Among Couples of Childbearing Age (育龄夫妇不孕不育症常态化诊治政策答疑) — along with a Diagnosis and Treatment Application Form (诊治申请表): "Tomorrow, experts from Southwest Hospital of Army Medical University will be conducting a medical tour at our higher-level unit. You're going on a temporary duty trip — take the opportunity to find out more."
What Xiao Wang did not expect was that this carefully arranged "incidental" duty trip would bring him good news: "Your personal condition is quite good — the probability of success is very high!" The expert's words filled Xiao Wang with joy, and the cloud hanging over his heart largely lifted.
At the time, Xiao Wang did not yet know that his name had already been entered into a roster kept by the brigade Party committee.
Late last year, in order to identify problems that officers and soldiers were "unable to bring up themselves," the brigade's relevant headquarters departments, medical team, and battalion and company commanders conducted a quiet, three-level coordinated survey of married but childless officers and soldiers through systematic screening and one-on-one conversations.
"Officers and soldiers have things they find hard to say. The organization cannot stay silent." The brigade's political commissar told reporters that resolving fertility difficulties for married officers and soldiers might not yield visible results in the short term, but it is an important measure for clearing "blockages" (淤堵) in unit cohesion and opening the "channels" (经络) of morale. Drawing on higher-level documents such as the Implementation Plan for Routine Diagnosis and Treatment of Infertility Among Military Couples of Childbearing Age (军队育龄夫妇不孕不育症常态化诊治实施方案), they established and refined a multi-level coordinated support chain: headquarters handling "urgent matters quickly" (急事快办), hospitals providing "dedicated points of contact" (专人对接), and battalions and companies conducting "precision scheduling" (精准调配), all in an effort to help officers and soldiers resolve the problem of "offspring" (后代).
Shortly after returning from his duty trip, Xiao Wang submitted a treatment application to his unit. Three days later, he received approval from higher command. Soon, Xiao Wang and his wife traveled to Southwest Hospital. In the consultation room, the hospital's expert reviewed Xiao Wang's test results and pulled up his physical examination records, not only formulating a specific treatment plan for him but also working with the health management department to develop a physical conditioning regimen.
Hospital leadership at Southwest Hospital explained that in recent years the hospital's Party committee has continuously improved its service measures for military personnel, requiring relevant departments to do their utmost to provide priority medical services to officers, soldiers, and their family members. In addition, the hospital has aligned itself with unit needs, proactively expanded the scope of its medical tours, promoted online remote processing of approval procedures, and ensured full-cycle tracking and guidance for high-risk cases. In recent years, experts from the hospital's Reproductive Medicine Center have gone deep into frontline units on multiple occasions to provide specialized screening services for grassroots officers and soldiers.
According to reports, 36 military medical institutions across the entire armed forces (全军) currently carry out routine diagnosis and treatment of infertility. Military couples may, following the principle of proximity and convenience based on "the individual's place of work, family residence, or place of household registration," visit qualified military medical institutions to receive routine diagnosis and treatment of infertility and related services free of charge. Reporters visited multiple military hospitals and learned that as one green channel (绿色通道) after another has been opened for military service, a solid network safeguarding the family happiness of officers and soldiers has been woven together at all levels, from hospitals to grassroots units.
The Seventh Medical Center of PLA General Hospital has taken the lead in establishing a specialized alliance in obstetrics-gynecology and pediatrics, with membership spanning multiple military and civilian hospitals, dedicated to providing high-quality and efficient medical support for military dependents and military children (军娃); Northern Theater Command General Hospital has integrated its neonatology, pediatrics, and other departments to establish a Children's Medical Center, enabling military children to access care with a single registration number (一号通行); in Jinan, Shandong, a military-civilian joint "Green Channel for Military Spouses' Pregnancy and Childbirth" (军嫂孕产绿色通道) has been established, allowing military spouses to enjoy priority prenatal checkups and other services throughout the entire process at multiple local hospitals…
"Fertility is a highly private matter. Married but childless officers and soldiers have all kinds of reservations and rarely seek help from the organization." During interviews, leaders from many units raised this issue and shared their approach: do it quietly.
At the beginning of this year, Staff Officer Li (李干事) at the headquarters of a certain Army unit stationed on the plateau added "resolving fertility difficulties" to the Party committee headquarters' annual list of practical tasks, listing support measures, responsible units, and funding in considerable detail. When submitting the document, the brigade's political commissar made his position clear: this work must be done, but it should not go on the list. He explained at the Party committee meeting: "The annual list of practical tasks for Party committee headquarters must be publicly posted and is subject to assessment and review — but fertility is both a private matter and a source of anxiety for officers and soldiers. Discussing it openly would invisibly add to their psychological burden."
Reporting in depth across multiple units, reporters discovered further details of Party committees "doing things quietly." A certain Rocket Force base has incorporated spousal reunions into mission planning and scheduling, but uses the phrase "strengthening humanistic care" (加强人文关怀) in its working minutes; a certain Army unit strictly maintains confidentiality regarding the list of married but childless officers and soldiers who have submitted treatment applications, designating a specific individual to continuously follow up and strictly controlling the circle of those with knowledge…
At the close of the interview, reporters saw that Xiao Wang had shared the good news of his wife's pregnancy on his social media (朋友圈). His political instructor gave it a "like" in the comments and shared with reporters a remark from the brigade's political commissar: helping officers and soldiers solve the problem of "offspring" is like cultivating Tibetan primrose (格桑花) — quiet tending of the soil is better than fanfare, waiting in ordinary days for the flowers to bloom in silence.
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Eyewitness Account
The Small Family's Dream Fulfilled, Thanks to the Big Family's Support
■ Military Spouse, Ms. Liu
As I type these words, my baby sleeps peacefully beside me, and everything before my eyes fills me with happiness. Before, a scene like this felt as distant and unreal as a dream.
My husband is a border defense servicemember. Exchanging greetings by phone is the norm of our married life. What comes naturally to ordinary couples — having children — has been extraordinarily difficult for us. The long separations made it hard for us to precisely time conception, and combined with my own physical condition, the probability of natural conception was very low. Since our marriage, I had gone from hospital to hospital on my own, seeking medical help, always without result. The repeated journeys and disappointments left both my husband and me physically and emotionally exhausted.
After learning of our situation, the leadership of my husband's unit proactively sought him out for a heart-to-heart talk, explained the military's specialized medical policies in detail, and repeatedly assured him: "When you run into difficulties, the organization will coordinate."
With the unit's help, my husband and I walked, with anxious hearts, into the consultation room of the 960th Hospital of the Joint Logistic Support Force (联勤保障部队第960医院). The doctor asked about our situation in careful detail and tailored a diagnosis and treatment plan specifically for us. After a period of treatment and conditioning, I successfully conceived.
Today, our baby is growing up healthy. Looking back on this experience, the care and concern of the unit's leadership and the patient treatment by the hospital's experts have made me deeply feel the warmth and wholehearted protection of the military family. As a military spouse, I will certainly take good care of our small family and support my husband's career through concrete action.
(Compiled by PLA Daily reporter Zhou Jiangchuan)
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Doing Everything to Safeguard the Happiness of Military Families
■ Military Physician He Wei, Southwest Hospital of Army Medical University
Some time ago, military spouse Ms. Sai came specially to bring me wedding candy. Looking at the adorable infant in her arms and the smile radiating from her face, I felt genuinely happy for her and immensely proud of our team. As military medical workers, over the years we have helped multiple military families realize their dream of "offspring."
Wholeheartedly protecting grassroots officers and soldiers is the first lesson for every military medical worker upon joining the profession, and a mission etched into our very being. The family happiness of officers and soldiers is bound up with morale and fighting spirit. In recent years, we have focused on cutting-edge technology, built a multidisciplinary collaborative platform, and played our proper role on the invisible battlefield, doing everything in our power to safeguard the happiness of military families one by one.
In military camps and sentry posts at the peaks of snow-capped mountains, generation after generation of border defense officers and soldiers have taken root on the plateau and devoted their youth to it. They shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending the nation's borders, yet because of their long separations they find it hard to fulfill the dream of a small family. Witnessing their sacrifice and dedication has only strengthened our resolve to move the service frontier forward. Taking advantage of our plateau medical tour missions, we have established family health records for border defense officers and soldiers and implemented dynamic tracking and management, promoting early detection, early intervention, and early treatment of health problems.
The border is far away, but care is always present. Over the years, the hospital has, in accordance with the spirit of relevant higher-level documents, continuously issued multiple institutional measures, done its utmost to provide specialized medical support services, and made every effort to help border defense officers and soldiers and their families resolve the difficulty of "offspring." Border defense officers and soldiers guard the nation's mountains and rivers with their youthful blood; we guard the happiness of their small families with the benevolent art of medicine.
(Compiled by PLA Daily reporter Ma Jialong)