CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Chongqing held a ceremony to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its sending medical teams to offer health services abroad. Chongqing has sent two medical teams overseas. Since 2002, they have treated 165,000 local patients and performed more than 10,000 surgeries, displaying the indomitable, tenacious, and selfless character of Chinese medical teams.

Chongqing Municipal Health Commission was entrusted by the National Health Commission to send a Chinese medical team to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2002, which was the first Chinese medical team sent to the South Pacific region. The Chinese medical team was dispatched to Barbados in December 2016. It is the first time that China has sent a Chinese medical team to Barbados.

By April 2023, Chongqing has sent a total of 120 medical team members in 12 batches to PNG and 44 medical team members in five batches to Barbados. The teams were engaged in 20 clinical specialties.

The two medical teams have treated more than 165,000 local patients, introduced over 330 new and appropriate technologies in nearly 20 specialized fields such as neurosurgery, maxillofacial surgery, and vascular intervention, trained local medical personnel, conducted outreach clinics, and donated medical equipment, said Deng Li, a member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Health Commission. She added, Chongqing has made innovations in foreign aid modes.

To assist the construction of minimally invasive surgical treatment centers in PNG, Chongqing has carried out two consecutive rounds of the "three-year special hospital" project and adopted measures such as donating specialized equipment, sending short-term expert groups, and receiving doctors from assisted hospitals for further study in Chongqing. Those measures effectively helped PNG make a revolutionary leap from traditional open surgery to modern minimally invasive surgery and facilitated the medical education cooperation between Chongqing Medical University and the Medical School of the University of the West Indies in Barbados in training more medical talents.

I still remember the days when we assisted health service in a foreign county, said Chen Guozhu, chief physician of the cardiology department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and the team leaders of the 11th batch of medical teams. He told the reporter that the medical team departed Chongqing on March 9, 2021, and arrived in Port Moresby, the capital of PNG on March 11. At that time, PNG was hit by the second outbreak of COVID-19, and the medical team had to complete the handover and fight the epidemic immediately upon their arrival in PNG. He said, "What makes me most proud is the 'Spring Seedling Action' carried out by the Chinese medical team, which is the only way for Chinese PNB to receive Chinese vaccines." Chen Guozhu added that to prevent the medical team from being infected, the local vaccination sites were all set outdoors, and the team members had to work in the heat of the scorching sun.

For Sun Shunxia, a member of the second Chinese medical team to Barbados and deputy chief nurse of joint/spine surgery at Chongqing People's Hospital, it is a responsibility and an honor to be part of the Chinese medical team. She said it would be one of the most unforgettable experiences of her life. (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)