(focus on china-africa cooperation) chinese doctors recall their experience in aiding africa: the more difficult the place, the more stories there are
2024-09-02
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
china news service, beijing, september 2, title: chinese doctors recall their experience in aiding africa: the more difficult the place, the more stories there are
china news service reporter ma shuaisha
"what foreign medical aid requires is to retain technology, not show off technology." in 2022, guo wei, then director of the emergency department of beijing tiantan hospital affiliated to capital medical university, served as the captain of the 29th chinese medical team to guinea, and led more than 20 team members on a one-and-a-half-year aid journey to africa.
today, guo wei has become the vice president of beijing hospital of traditional chinese medicine affiliated to capital medical university. recalling this period of foreign aid experience, guo wei recently said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from china news service that the more difficult the place, the more stories there are.
a group photo of the 29th chinese medical aid team to guinea and local medical staff. (photo provided by the interviewee)
finding a breakthrough from football: to retain the skills, change the concept first
after arriving in guinea from a distance of thousands of miles, guo wei's first step was to find out the local medical level. the actual situation was far less optimistic than he expected. the china-guinea friendship hospital where the medical team was stationed is one of the three national hospitals in guinea. its medical conditions are among the best in guinea. however, compared with the average level of domestic hospitals in china, there is a gap in the number of medical staff, technical level, and hardware equipment. he noticed that the simple and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation technology in first aid is not widely used in the local area.
"this needs to be popularized," said guo wei.
during their daily interactions, he discovered that among all sports, guineans particularly loved football. this reminded him of the scene in which the danish football star eriksson suddenly fell unconscious on the field. "they have all heard of the name eriksson." so guo wei told the medical staff the story of eriksson's brush with death and turned it into a situational drama.
"since then, they seem to have been persuaded." guo wei said that from the beginning, only chinese medical staff performed the operation, and gradually the chinese medical team led the locals to perform the operation, and finally the locals consciously performed it independently. "one day, they came to me and said, 'captain guo, we saved a patient in the emergency room by ourselves.'" today, cardiopulmonary resuscitation technology has been rolled out in the hospital.
talking about this story, guo wei said that he felt it was very "brain-burning" at the time, but now he thinks it is very interesting. compared with china, the work done by the chinese medical team in guinea is pioneering, and everyone feels a sense of accomplishment.
medical aid to africa is not achieved overnight
during the foreign aid period, guo wei led the medical team to deeply participate in the clinical work of the china-guinea friendship hospital, creating many "firsts" from ward rounds, consultations, operations to the establishment of rules and regulations. for example, it was the first time for him to lead local medical staff to perform bronchoscopy diagnosis and treatment, the first time to perform ultrasound guidance in neurosurgery, and the first time to perform arteriovenous fistula surgery.
guo wei is seeing a patient in the ward with a guinean doctor. (photo provided by the interviewee)
the story of the 29th chinese medical aid team led by guo wei is just a microcosm of china's foreign aid medical teams. in 1963, china's first foreign aid medical team arrived in algeria in north africa. since then, china has embarked on the road of foreign aid medical services and left a "medical team that cannot be taken away" in africa. over half a century later, china has established a comprehensive and three-dimensional foreign aid medical team work pattern. foreign aid medical services have shifted from "blood transfusion" assistance to sustainable "hematopoietic" cooperation, helping recipient countries improve their medical service capabilities.
although a lot of pioneering work has been done in guinea, guo wei believes that foreign aid medical work is not achieved overnight, but requires batches of foreign aid medical teams to continuously explore and improve, so as to drive the continuous improvement of local medical technology. "as medical workers, everyone hopes to achieve some breakthroughs, and the same is true for guinean medical staff. when they easily learn a new technology, they are very excited." guo wei said.
he said that as guinea's economy and people's education level improve, local people's demand for medical care will grow. in the future, more personnel exchanges between china and africa should be increased, and more african friends should be invited to come to china to immerse themselves in learning chinese medicine. (end)
