'Thank you, Chinese doctor!' echoes across 50 years of trust

Years after their missions were completed, many Chinese medical doctors still remember their patients in Madagascar, an island country off the southeastern coast of Africa.

Similarly, many Malagasy patients will be forever grateful to the visiting doctors who helped change their lives.

During his first mission to Madagascar in 2010, Qiang Yaosheng, a surgeon from the First Hospital of Lanzhou University in Gansu province, treated a 13-year-old girl suffering from severe intestinal obstruction. Her family could not afford the surgical supplies needed for the emergency operation, so Qiang used his own savings to ensure the surgery proceeded.

Two years later, shortly before completing his mission, Qiang was walking along a rural road when a young woman suddenly recognized him. "Thank you, Chinese doctor!" she called out.

Qiang soon realized it was the girl he had treated.

For Chinese medical workers in Madagascar, the phrase "Thank you, Chinese doctor" has come to reflect decades of trust built through medical care and personal connections.

He Fengxiao, a cardiac surgeon at Lanzhou University Second Hospital, joined a medical mission to Madagascar in 2023, and experienced a similar sense of trust that extended beyond the hospital setting.

"People knew we came there to save lives. We treated many complicated conditions and helped many locals recover," he said. "When we walked outside, local residents were very friendly and greeted us from a distance."

That trusting relationship has been built patiently over more than half a century.

Since 1975, a total of 24 medical teams from Gansu have served in Madagascar, with personnel making 725 visits, some multiple times. The teams have treated 5 million patients and performed over 130,000 surgeries, according to the Gansu Health Commission.

This effort is part of China's broader medical cooperation program. In December 1962, following a global appeal from the newly independent Republic of Algeria for emergency medical assistance, the Communist Party of China was the first to respond and sent its first international medical aid team the next year.

Over the past six decades, more than 30,000 visits by Chinese medical workers to 76 countries and regions have been made, providing care for nearly 300 million patient visits and supporting over 130 medical facilities, according to China's National Health Commission.

As the number of CPC members in the medical teams grew, Party branches have been established locally to organize study sessions and collective activities, helping strengthen coordination and unity among team members.

From the early days, Party members often took the lead not only in medical work, but also in adapting to life overseas and building connections with local communities.