"50 years later, the province has held a special event that allows me to look back on the time of foreign aid, and I feel very touched." Although 86-year-old Liu Meizhen has white hair, she wears the five-star red flag badge of the Chinese medical team on her chest, and she seems to be back to the days when the first Chinese medical team went to Equatorial Guinea to carry out medical assistance.
On October 26, the 50th anniversary of the dispatch of foreign aid medical teams from Guangdong Province was held in Guangzhou. The reporter learned that in the past 50 years, Guangdong Province has sent 61 batches of 907 long-term foreign aid medical teams to Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, the Gambia, Dominica and other countries, with a total of 2.391 million patients treated and 58,500 surgeries performed, making positive contributions to the health cause of the people of the recipient countries.
Zhu Hong, secretary of the party group and director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, introduced that 50 years ago today, Guangdong sent the first 12-person medical team to Equatorial Guinea, kicking off the prelude to the dispatch of foreign aid medical teams in our province. In recent years, under the overall guidance of the National Health Commission, Guangdong has made some bold explorations and attempts in deepening China-Africa health cooperation and innovating foreign aid models by carrying out foreign aid innovation projects such as "China-Canada West Africa Heart Center", "Maternal and Child Health Project" and "China-Malaysia Eye Center" with Ghana and Maldives, and has accumulated some successful experience.
Zhu Hong said that at present, the global governance system in the post-epidemic era is undergoing profound adjustments and changes, and medical assistance is facing more opportunities and challenges. Guangdong should find out the positioning, explore innovation, focus on the new requirements of the national foreign aid medical work and the new changes in the needs of the recipient countries, pay attention to combining the dispatch of foreign aid medical teams with foreign aid innovation projects, optimize the mode and method of medical aid to foreign countries, and promote the "small and beautiful" project to drive the "all-round" output.
A symposium was held at the event site to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dispatch of medical teams from Guangdong Province. The meeting stressed that the current COVID-19 epidemic is still raging around the world, bringing new challenges and new requirements to foreign medical work. The Provincial Health Commission and other relevant departments should strengthen the health and safety protection of team members abroad, establish a "four-in-one" coordination mechanism between government departments, aid dispatch units, experts in the province, and foreign aid medical teams, and timely solve the difficulties and problems encountered by medical teams abroad.
At the meeting, representatives of foreign aid medical team members and representatives of relevant units gathered together to exchange medical feelings on foreign aid and provide suggestions and suggestions for foreign aid medical work.
"In terms of popularity, the local people undoubtedly prefer Chinese doctors." Zhang Congzhen, a representative of the medical team aiding Equatorial Guinea, recalled the time of foreign aid in that year in his speech. He said that locals have a habit of weighing heavily on their heads, so the incidence of oblique hernia in the groin is very high. "I completed up to 9 cases of oblique hernia repair in one day, plus 4 emergency rooms, and 13 surgeries in one day."
Wei Jianrui, a representative of the Ghana Aid Medical Team, said that as the leader of the first batch of Ghana Aid Medical Team, he set the goal of "safety, happiness and value", not only to lay the foundation for the follow-up medical team, but also to let the Ghanaian people understand Chinese doctors and Chinese culture.
Yang Zhen, representative of the medical team members of the Aid Dominica Team, Lin Chunying, representative of the China-Canada West Africa Heart Center and expert representative of the "Love Walk", Chen Weirong, the expert representative of the "Sending Doctors to the Island" and the "Bright Walk", Liu Jun, the representative of the public health experts who aided Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic, and Peng Zhiqiang, the representative of the anti-epidemic medical experts who aided foreign countries, respectively told the story of crossing thousands of miles of mountains and rivers and being a messenger of love. Dongguan Municipal Health Bureau, Zhongshan Municipal Health Bureau, Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Southern Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and other units respectively made special speeches on foreign aid medical work.
The participants visited the photo exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the dispatch of the medical team sent by Guangdong Province to foreign countries, and watched the promotional video commemorating the 50th anniversary of the dispatch of the medical team sent by Guangdong Province.
[Reporter] Zhu Xiaofeng
【Photography】 Xu Hao
[Correspondent] Yue Weixin
【Author】 Zhu Xiaofeng; Xu Hao
Guangdong health headlines
Source: South+ - Create more value