In December 2022, as a member of the 10th batch of Chinese medical teams from Shaanxi Province to Malawi, Dr. Zhu Jinwen, a spine surgeon from Xi'an Honghui Hospital, embarked on a journey to a foreign country. In January 2024, he successfully completed the foreign aid medical mission and returned to his homeland. He wrote down his thoughts: "I can finally say to myself that I have lived up to the expectations of the motherland and successfully completed the foreign aid medical mission!" ”
Cultivating a "medical team that cannot be taken away" for the local area
Recently, a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News came to Xi'an Honghui Hospital and met Dr. Zhu Jinwen, who told about this unforgettable experience of foreign aid.
When he first arrived in Malawi, Zhu Jinwen found that there were many trauma patients in the area, but medical resources were limited, and many patients had to wait a long time before they had the opportunity to seek medical treatment. Makuka, a local orthopedic attending physician, says, "Nothing is fresh here! (There are no fresh fractures here!) Most patients are old fractures and infections.
In order to solve the problem that the hospital did not have a spine specialist and did not have special spine surgical instruments, Zhu Jinwen opened the first spine specialist clinic in Malawi. At first, the clinic was held once a week on Wednesdays, but as the number of cured patients and local media coverage increased, so did the number of spine clinics, and the Wednesday clinics often lasted from 8 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. Later, Zhu Jinwen added one day of outpatient clinics, and opened outpatient clinics every Monday and Wednesday. "It also shows that the local patients and medical staff are very positive about the skills of our Chinese medical team." Zhu Jinwen said.
To do a good job in medical aid to foreign countries, doctors must not only be able to treat diseases and save people, but also "teach people to fish" and cultivate "medical teams that cannot be taken away" for the local area. With the support of his teammates in the medical team, Zhu Jinwen held a spine surgery training course at the Kamzu Central Hospital in Malawi. In the past year, the spine surgery training course has completed a total of 19 lectures, and Zhu Jinwen insisted on clinical teaching in outpatient clinics and surgeries, and cultivated a skilled spine surgery diagnosis and treatment team for the local area.
Successful orthopedic surgery for difficult congenital scoliosis
During the period of medical assistance, Zhu Jinwen carried out "8 cases of the first case in the country" and "2 cases of the first case in Kamzu Central Hospital" in Malawi, filling a number of local technical gaps.
In October 2023, Dr. Zhu Jinwen successfully performed a difficult congenital scoliosis orthopedic surgery at the Kamzu Central Hospital in Malawi, which is the first case in Malawi.
The 5-year-old child's parents found that the child had a mass on his back when he was 3 years old, and the mass had increased rapidly in the past two years (the peak growth period of young children).
After learning that the Chinese medical team had cured a number of patients in other cases, parents brought their children to visit. After careful physical examination and reading of the film, Zhu Jinwen diagnosed the condition as congenital kyphosis of the left hemivertebral body of the 12th thoracic vertebra. Due to the late consultation, the malformation has developed very severely, with local kyphosis reaching 70 degrees and scoliosis reaching 40 degrees, and the compression volume of the right lung has been reduced by 30% compared with the left lung, making the operation very difficult.
The conditions in the hospital were difficult, but the medical team overcame all difficulties. Next, the medical team organized MDT teams from spine surgery, anesthesiology, pediatrics, internal medicine, radiology, and traditional Chinese medicine to conduct multidisciplinary discussions and formulate a detailed surgical plan for the child. During the operation, Dr. Su Han, also from Xi'an Honghui Hospital, administered general anesthesia to the child. Finally, after 3 hours, the operation was completed, and the bilateral pedicle nail locking plate fixation of thoracic 11 and lumbar 1 was successfully carried out, the deformed thoracic 12 hemivertebral body was removed, the intervertebral bone graft was carried out using the cut hemivertebral bone, the kyphosis correction was satisfactory, and the postoperative plaster was fixed.
While waiting for the child to wake up, the doctors were anxious. When the child was awake from anesthesia, the tracheal intubation was successfully removed, and the lower limbs moved, Zhu Jinwen, Su Han and the members of the surgical team jumped up excitedly, and the local doctors and nurses high-fived the Chinese doctors to congratulate them! Patients and their families in the ward were amazed by the skill of the Chinese doctors.
Patient Appreciation: Chinese Doctors Got Me Back on My Feet
Another patient who impressed Zhu Jinwen was a man in his 40s, "who suffered from tuberculosis disease, which affected his thoracic spine, and could not stand for a long time and could only lie down." When I came to see me, I was a little afraid of surgery at first, but then I learned about many of the previous successful surgeries, and finally I was relieved to enter the operating room. Zhu Jinwen recalled, "In response to his condition, we carried out autologous iliac bone grafting and fusion internal fixation + posterior pedicle screw internal fixation for anterior thoracic tuberculosis lesions in thoracic 11 vertebral bodies, and the operation was very successful, and after 3 days, he could get out of bed and move, and after half a year, he moved freely." ”
The male patient was extremely grateful to Dr. Zhu Jinwen and said, "If it weren't for the Chinese doctors, I would have been bedridden for the rest of my life, but it was the Chinese doctors who made me stand up again." Chinese doctors, we rest assured! ”
Participated in the free clinic of the local orphanage and donated medicines and materials
In order to let the overseas Chinese in Malaysia feel the care of the motherland, the medical team used the weekend to conduct health inspections and health lectures for the employees of Chinese-funded enterprises in Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and other cities, which was highly praised by the compatriots.
In October 2023, a Chinese athlete was accidentally injured in a friendly sports match held by a Chinese-funded enterprise. Due to the availability of local hospitals, the diagnosis cannot be confirmed. After a physical examination, Dr. Zhu Jinwen suspected a ruptured Achilles tendon. The medical team was in a hurry, and innovatively proposed to use X-ray examination of both calves for comparison, and found that the shadow of the Achilles tendon of the right calf was abnormal, and contacted the foot and ankle surgery experts of Xi'an Honghui Hospital in China for consultation, and was diagnosed with Achilles tendon rupture.
In addition, Zhu Jinwen and the medical team actively participated in the "China-Africa Hand in Hand to Warm Children's Hearts" free clinic activities in local orphanages, and the medical team provided free clinics and donated medicines and materials to more than 300 orphanage children. The deeds and contributions of the medical team have been reported and reprinted by domestic and foreign media many times.
After returning to China, Zhu Jinwen wrote in his summary: "Recalling the ambition to contribute to the country when I signed up, the excitement and curiosity when I was selected and trained, to the successful work in Malawi, which was recognized by the local medical staff and patients, overseas Chinese and team members in Malawi, I can finally say to myself that I have lived up to the expectations of the motherland and successfully completed the foreign aid medical mission!"
For more than 400 days and nights, I and the members of the 10th batch of Chinese medical teams to aid Malawi have united and worked together to fulfill the mission and responsibilities of the foreign aid medical team, live up to our youth and mission, and make our own contributions to promoting China-Malaysia friendship and building a community of health for mankind. ”
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter Ren Ting
Source: Huashang Net-Huashang Daily