Tianjin doctors to offer aid in Africa

Fifty-nine doctors left Tianjin for Africa where they will provide medical services in four major cities in the Republic of Congo and Gabon.

After arriving on Thursday, they will assist in 16 departments including internal medical, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics and ophthalmology.

"The city's team has the longest history among the Chinese medical teams being sent to the continent," said Xia Yingyi, deputy director of the Cooperation and Exchange Division, Tianjin Municipal Health Commission.

The doctors will provide aid to the two countries based on local circumstances and place emphasis on curing diseases, she noted.

Tianjin's medical aid programs in Africa date to 1963, when two doctors were sent to Algeria.

Zhu Limin, head of a former team sent to Gabon, said they tackled many unexpected challenges doing eye surgery in the country.

"One senior citizen was suffering from amaurosis, the most severe condition of cataracts, a condition that affects the transparency of the lenses," he said. "It is rarely seen in China."

The team found support from top experts at Tianjin Medical Hospital.

"Via online video tutoring, my teacher took us through the operation step by step and finally helped the patient regain sight," he said.

Du Jian, another doctor with the team, said they found an operating room in complete shambles during his visit in 2016.

"It was our team members who helped 'revitalize' the operating room," Du said.

Shi Xuemin, 81, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the first doctor from Tianjin who provided medical treatment such as acupuncture and moxibustion in Algeria, recalled that in 1963 Algerian people lined up for the Chinese traditional therapy.

"Some government officials, including the president, recovered, hitting the headlines in the local newspaper," he said.

He expects traditional Chinese medicine and therapy to help address grassroots needs in Africa.

To date, Tianjin has sent 1,296 doctors in 46 teams to Gabon and the Republic of Congo. A total of 8 million patients have been treated by Tianjin doctors.

Up to 60,000 people have received operations, 13,000 have received emergency rescue services, and about 557,000 inpatients have been treated by Tianjin doctors, according to the commission.

Tianjin has also set up four hospitals in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, health minister of the Republic of Congo, said Tianjin doctors and experts have greatly contributed to the training of local medical workers, and the China-Congo Friendship Hospital has the best medical facilities in the region.

"We expect the hospital will be bigger and stronger," she said.

Denise Mekam'Ne Edzidzie Taty, former health minister of Gabon, appreciated the team's contributions and "in particular, its decision to provide assistance in the construction of its third hospital in Gabon in the near future".