Colleagues in Trip Lose Faith in O.C. Medical Missionary : Aid: He says troubled China operation was ‘sabotaged’ by mutinous group of doctors who ousted him as leader.

Mel Alexander sees himself as a globe-trotting medical missionary whose adventures in healing have taken him to Africa, Honduras, Mexico, Thailand and Nepal during the past three decades.

As president of the Christian Medical Assn., whose mailing address is listed in Seal Beach, Alexander says there isn’t anywhere his organization wouldn’t go to help the sick and poor.

“In 32 years, I can’t tell you how many people we have helped,” he said in an interview Thursday. “By no means are we new to this kind of thing.”

But a team of 89 physicians, nurses and support staff who accompanied Alexander on a 10-day mission to the Republic of China last month said Alexander’s leadership--or lack of it--placed the group in a precarious position with government officials and sparked sensational headlines in the Hong Kong press.

“It was an international incident, but I didn’t create it,” Alexander said.

Assembled from throughout the United States, Canada and New Zealand, the medical team was recruited by Alexander with the goal of treating an estimated 5,000 sick and poor residents of the south China city of Yibin.

Alexander told the team that he had secured $3.5 million in medical supplies and equipment that would be donated to Yibin.

Yet, when the health-care team arrived at its destination Sept. 12, physicians were confronted by angry Chinese authorities who had inspected the supplies that were shipped before the delegation’s arrival.

What the physicians found were crates of outdated medication, damaged or broken equipment and mildewed clothing, they said.

Dr. James Ng of Irvine, one of several dentists on the mission, said one packing crate contained “nothing at all.”

“There were three boxes of old (eyeglasses), like from the 1970s,” Ng said. “Another box was filled with stuff like old batteries, pencils--stuff that you might dig out of the cushions of your couch. I was appalled.”

Although the Chinese were expecting millions of dollars in supplies, the physicians said the shipment’s value was more like $50,000 and only part of that could be salvaged.

Alexander said various drug companies and charitable organizations donated the supplies and provided the estimated value of $3.5 million.

According to the physicians, however, Yibin officials were so irate over the condition of the supplies that they eventually called in army troops who loaded the shipment onto two military trucks for transport to a grave dug on the banks of the Yangtze River.

“They poured kerosene over it and lighted it,” said Dr. Ralph Francis, a Nampa, Ida., dentist who later was chosen by his colleagues to help lead the group. “It was very embarrassing.”

With the delegation’s relationship with Chinese officials growing more tense by the day, physicians said, they met privately to remove themselves from Alexander’s leadership so they could try to salvage a mission that ultimately resulted in success in spite of initial problems.

So estranged had Alexander become to the group that Francis said $500 was paid to remove Alexander’s name from a granite monument that Chinese officials had erected on a hillside outside of town to commemorate the mission.

“We were in a very dire situation,” said Calvin Howe of Heber Springs, Ark., a member of the mission’s support staff. “But we managed to turn around what could have been a tragedy. From a spiritual standpoint, it could only have been God that brought us out of there.”

Alexander, however, charged that the mission was “sabotaged” from the start by a mutinous group of physicians “hungry for power.”

Two days after the group’s arrival in Yibin, Alexander said, the doctors grew increasingly unhappy and engaged in an unwarranted “coup d’etat.”

Alexander acknowledged that Chinese officials were “not satisfied” with the number of physicians who had arrived nor were they happy with the quality of drugs and supplies shipped from the United States. Alexander said he had initially hoped to bring as many as 250 physicians and support staff, but that recruitment goal could not be accomplished. He said some who had expressed an interest in going on the trip had to cancel for various reasons.

The troubles, while unfortunate, were not unlike those encountered on the first days of other missions, said Alexander, adding that he is a retired physician with credentials from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

“The first day is always traumatic,” said Marie Warner, Alexander’s assistant, referring to past mission experiences. “You have to work through it.”

But Francis, Howe and others said the disorganization, embarrassing supply situation and growing tension with the Chinese authorities warranted the group’s formal separation from Alexander.

“The local government officials there felt drastically betrayed from the moment we arrived,” Francis said. “Things got fairly tense. As a group, we realized we were in trouble.”

Yibin officials could not be reached for comment, but the mission has been the focus of much attention in Hong Kong newspapers.

Following a meeting of the physicians and others in the delegation, the group voted to reorganize leadership under Francis, Howe and Thomas Wu, a Seattle-based travel agent who helped Alexander plan the trip.

Wu said he met Alexander in August, 1993. At that meeting, Wu talked of his interest in trying to involve himself in medical missionary work in China. Alexander, according to Wu, spoke of his experience leading such medical missions and his interest in making a venture into China.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get involved,” Wu said. “He told me he had wanted to put together a mission to China for 30 years but had no contacts.”

In January, the two arranged a trip to China, where they met with government officials and agreed that Yibin would be the site of their mission.

“We met with the proper authorities and we were very well received,” Wu said.

Wu said Alexander agreed to arrange recruitment of physicians, donations of medical supplies and equipment, while he would handle the travel arrangements and some communications with Chinese officials.

According to Wu, shortly after their arrival in Yibin, the mission “began to unravel.”

“I guess I was too naive,” Wu said. “We should have looked in those boxes.”

Alexander blames most of the trouble on Wu. From the start, Alexander said, Wu wanted to take control of the mission and helped engineer the leadership takeover once the group arrived in Yibin.

While there is no argument that Alexander was voted out as the group’s leader, there is a dispute between the two sides over the immediate reaction of Chinese authorities.

According to Alexander, Chinese officials attempted to persuade him to stay on with the mission. Wu, Howe and others, however, claim that Chinese authorities suggested that Alexander leave the city.

Alexander said he left Yibin on his own terms and was treated with respect by Chinese authorities.

The U.S. Consulate’s office in nearby Chengdu was notified by the physician group of the mission’s troubles and later sent a summary of the delegation’s activities in a report to the State Department in Washington.

A State Department official Thursday confirmed receipt of that report in which American officials in Chengdu acknowledged that the mission was fraught with troubles. The State Department official said the Chinese authorities were particularly “disappointed” that the “quality of the medicines did not meet Chinese specifications.”

“We were told a lot had to be burned,” said the official, who spoke on condition that she not be named. According to the report filed with the State Department, when the change in leadership took place, the mission eventually became a success.

Howe said that following Alexander’s departure, the group worked “overtime” to turn the mission around. He said physicians shuttled among 10 local hospitals and eventually met the goal of treating 5,000 patients, performing nearly 100 operations.

“We had a problem, but we wanted to prove that this could be turned into a success,” Howe said.

Francis said the group felt a need to uphold a reputation “that as Americans we could not leave without doing the job right.”

Francis said that he was one of more than 100 medical missionaries who accompanied Alexander on a trip to Nepal last October. The mission was sponsored by the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Los Angeles, which had arranged for Alexander to organize the effort.

Trouble came almost immediately, Francis said, when half of the medical team was routed through Calcutta. Without proper visas, Francis said the group was placed in an airport compound until the group could arrange transportation to Nepal.

Alexander said Francis’ story is a “complete fabrication.” But a Foursquare Church official familiar with the mission confirmed Francis’ account. Although the Nepal mission “eventually was a success,” the church official, who did not want to be identified, said the trip was plagued by management problems.

“It was not organized as good as we thought it would be,” the official said. “We will not be using (Christian Medical Assn.) again.”

Francis said he agreed to go along on the China trip when Alexander contacted him and assured him that the trip would be tightly organized.

“I also really wanted to see China,” he said.

Despite the troubles, Howe, Francis and Wu said the group eventually bonded with Yibin residents. When the mission was over, the city marked the occasion with a party and the unveiling of a monument in honor of the group’s work.

“There was hugging and tears,” Howe said. “It was very emotional.”

But when the group learned that Alexander’s name was also inscribed on the monument, Francis said, the physicians declined to participate in the ceremony until Alexander’s name was removed.

The medical team came up the $500 it cost to take Alexander’s name off the monument, Francis said.

Times staff writer Mark I. Pinsky in Orange County and correspondent Maggie Farley in Hong Kong contributed to this report.