In the past 60 years, the Chinese medical team has written a moving chapter of China-Africa friendship with boundless love

Algiers, 7 April (Xinhua) -- In the past 60 years, the Chinese medical team has written a moving chapter of Sino-African friendship with boundless love

Xinhua News Agency reporter

On April 6, 1963, a Chinese medical team set off from Beijing and traveled for 10 days, passing through Moscow, Belgrade, Rabat, and finally arrived in the city of Saida in the North African country of Algeria. This is the first medical team sent by the Chinese government to an African country.

In the past 60 years, generations of Chinese white angels have rushed to Africa, using wisdom, sweat and even life to compose touching stories of boundless love and build a bridge of friendship between China and Africa.

Dedication: Saving lives where they are most difficult and needed

The small Algerian city of Saida, located on the edge of the Sahara Desert, is known as the "Gate of the Desert". According to Lei Lirong, captain of the Saida detachment of the 27th batch of Chinese aid to Algeria, whenever a sandstorm hits, even if the doors and windows are closed, "the sand and dust in the house are several millimeters thick" after the sandstorm. Due to the extremely strong sunshine and arid climate, the variety of local vegetables is very limited.

"At that time, apart from the members of the Chinese medical team assisting Afghanistan, there was only one doctor and one nurse in the local area." Xue Jin, an 86-year-old Hubei doctor who went to Saida in 1965 to participate in the foreign aid medical team, recalled.

The difficult working and living environment of Saida is common in various locations of the Chinese medical aid team. However, this did not deter Chinese medical staff. From the moment they embark on their journey, dedication becomes the foundation of their lives.

Tu Dachun, a 60-year-old chief orthopedic physician, is from Jingzhou Cancer Hospital in Hubei Province. Since 2002, he has participated in 6 batches of medical teams to assist Afghanistan, working in Algeria for a total of 12 years. At the busiest time at work, Tu Dachun was on duty from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, and worked 10 emergency night shifts a month, not wanting to do anything but drink water after work.

In January 2022, the coronavirus pandemic ravaged Algeria. During one emergency surgery, the remaining five people in the operating room, including the patient and local medical staff, were infected with the new coronavirus, and one nurse even fainted in the middle of the operation. Talking about these hardships and fatigue, Tu Dachun looked light.

In the hospital where the Sidi Bouzaid detachment of the Chinese aid Tunisian medical team is located, Peng Xihua is the only anesthesiologist. She works at least three people by herself, working more than 72 hours a week, moving back and forth between the operating areas of the three departments of orthopedics, the operating room and the obstetrics and gynecology department. At her busiest, she received 37 calls about surgery in one morning.

Tong Minxian, a doctor at Sanmenxia Central Hospital, is the longest-serving medical team member in Henan Province. Since 2001, he has traveled to Eritrea, Zambia and Ethiopia to aid foreign countries, and has contracted malaria more than a dozen times. "Healers have no borders, everywhere is life-saving, and I find it valuable to use my expertise in places where there is a shortage of medicine." Gong Minxian said.

Heritage: responsibility, affection and love

In the past 60 years, generations of Chinese medical team members have come to succession, father and son relay, husband and wife work together, sisters hand in hand... Sweating on the African land, some team members even gave their lives.

"Those who have drunk the water of the Nile will return." Wu Yilun, director of the first ultrasound room of Xi'an Red Cross Hospital, participated in the Sudanese medical team three times, working there for 6 years. Wu Yilun and his uncle, sister and brother-in-law, 4 people a total of 11 times, a total of 21 years of "relay" aid. Wu Yilun said: "Participating in the foreign medical team is not only the inheritance of our medical family, but also my own mission and obligation. ”

In 1980, when Shen Ali was born, his grandfather Shen Dongsheng was receiving medical assistance in Algeria. In order to commemorate and continue this relationship with Algeria, Shen Dongsheng named his three grandsons "Ali", "Xiaoli" and "Youli" respectively. In February 2015, Shen Ali joined the 24th batch of medical teams in Hubei Province and followed his grandfather's footsteps to Algeria.

Chu Hailin, 55 years old this year, participated in the Namibian medical team twice in 2008 and 2012, and in 2018, he again took the initiative to return to Namibia as the leader of the 12th batch of medical teams, and his wife Cai Xiaoying also went to Africa with him again as a medical team nurse.

"Many people ask me why I came to Africa again, and I think it's a feeling, a responsibility to the country, a love for Africa, completely from the heart. If I am asked to come back to Africa next time, I will come back. Chu Hailin said.

In March, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said that over the past 60 years, China has sent 30,000 medical teams to 76 countries and regions in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania, and that Chinese foreign aid medical teams are currently working at 115 medical points in 57 countries around the world, nearly half of which are in remote and difficult areas.

Benefit: Medical teams that cannot be taken away

In December 2022, Li Yang, a cardiologist from the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, successfully performed the first pacemaker implantation operation in the country's history for an 82-year-old Gambian patient, and local government officials, media and the public praised him.

The first femoral head replacement, the first mitral valve dilation and separation, the first hand amputation replantation, the first brain trauma craniotomy, the first corneal transplantation... In the past 60 years, the Chinese medical team has created many "firsts" in the history of local medical treatment in African countries, benefiting countless African patients with benevolence, and "Chinese doctors" have become synonymous with professionalism and trust.

In January, in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Tanzania's Mbeya province, Elsa, a local patient who had just been released from an intubated trachea, tearfully uttered the first words in half a month to Chinese doctors in Kiswahili: "Thank you." Not long ago, Elsa had just given birth to her second child when she suddenly lost consciousness and was transferred to the intensive care unit. In charge of treating Elsa is a team led by Wang Heng, a member of the 26th batch of medical teams from China to Tanzania. The moment Elsa was transferred out of the intensive care unit, Elsa's husband Charles faced Wang Heng with tears in his eyes and said, "You are angels sent by heaven!" ”

At the China-Arab Traditional Chinese Medicine Center of Algiers Akeron Hospital, Yang Yi from Shiyan People's Hospital in Hubei Province told reporters that not long ago, a local female patient came to see her with a photo of a Chinese medical team member 27 years ago, and it turned out that the Chinese medical team treated the female patient's ankle sprain. Since then, the woman and her family have been seeing Chinese doctors, who have never let them down.

In mid-February, the daughter of Sudanese woman Sitara Banat Wakya was born by Chinese doctors at Abu Osher Hospital by a cesarean section. Wajia's own three children were also delivered by Chinese doctors, "Chinese doctors are skilled and safe to operate."

The Chinese medical team also selflessly teaches medical skills to local doctors. During an interview at the Seti Couple and Children's Hospital in Algeria, the reporter saw that Zhu Tao, the leader of the Settif Branch of the Chinese Aid Algeria Medical Team from Wuhan, taught the surgical steps in English to local doctors and medical students, and arranged simulated operations after the lecture.

Over the past 60 years, China's foreign aid medical teams have established counterpart cooperative relations with hospitals in many African countries through various methods such as clinical teaching, surgical demonstrations, academic exchanges, health lectures, epidemic prevention education and remote guidance, supported African countries in establishing key specialty centers, filled a number of technical gaps, greatly improved the medical technology level of recipient countries, and left "medical teams that cannot be taken away" in African countries.

Friendship: Messenger of China-Africa friendship

According to data from the National Health Commission, over the past 60 years, Chinese medical team members have treated 290 million patients, most of whom are in Africa. Chinese doctors have won respect and love in African countries with their sincerity and hard work, and have also gained the simple and sincere friendship of the local people. Stopped by patients and their families on the road to express their gratitude, invited to the homes of local people and received the most grand hospitality... The African people expressed their gratitude to Chinese medical staff with the most sincere feelings.

In a small mountain village on the outskirts of the Ethiopian city of Jima, pines surround a cleanly cleaned cemetery. Buried here is Mei Gengnian, a cardiovascular expert and the leader of China's first medical team to assist Ethiopia in the 70s of last century. In August 1975, Mei Gengnian died in the line of duty while visiting the epidemic area.

Zeudi was a patient of Mei Gengnian and his friend. After Mei Gengnian's death, Zeoudi donated his yard as a cemetery and insisted on guarding his grave. After Zewudi's death, her daughter Ruo'e continued to guard the tomb of Mei Gengnian in memory of her father's instructions. "I will tell the people around me the story of this Chinese doctor." Ruo'e said.

Gambian President Barrow said: "We have seen the love and dedication of Chinese doctors to this country, and I am grateful for that. ”

Namibia's founding president, Nujoma, said: "The Namibian people have benefited greatly from the dedication of the Chinese medical team, which is a testimony to the friendly relations between Namibia and China. ”

Over the past 60 years, many members of the Chinese medical aid team to Africa have been awarded national medals by recipient countries: Benin's Order of Gilded Knight of the Third Degree, the Medal of Merit of the Central African Republic Reconstruction Second Class, the Silver National Independence Medal of Equatorial Guinea, the First Class Knight Order of Cameroon, and the Knight of Mauritania...

The medals record the selfless dedication of the Chinese medical team members to Africa, and condense the unbreakable friendship between China and Africa. Medical workers in Africa are not only angels who save lives and help the wounded, but also messengers who pass on the friendship between China and Africa, and they continue to write touching stories of boundless love on the African land. (Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency reporter, written by: Chen Mengyang)