China News Service, Chengdu, September 29. Title: Crossing Mountains and Seas in a Group Photo: 50 Years of Sichuan’s Foreign Aid Medical Care
Author Cheng Zhao
In the center of the living room of an East Timorese family, there is an unusual photo hanging - in the photo, it is the family of a patient and Chinese doctors who have been treated by the Chinese medical team. Lu Xia, a staff member at the International Exchange Center of the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission, still remembers this photo.
In 2022, when Lu Xia was on a mission with the Chinese medical team in East Timor, the medical team treated a deaf-mute young man who was admitted to the hospital due to septic shock. Since the patient could neither hear nor speak, the medical team members created simple sign language to communicate with him. After a full month of treatment, the young man finally survived. When the medical team was invited to the patient's home before returning to China, everyone saw a photo of the patient and the Chinese doctor hanging in the center of the living room.
The picture shows the patient's family that Lu Xia, a staff member of the International Exchange Center of the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission, met in Timor-Leste in 2022, and Zhang Ke, a member of the 9th batch of China (Sichuan) medical aid team to Timor-Leste. Photo courtesy of Lu Xia
Such a group photo is one of the many stories left behind in Sichuan’s 50 years of foreign aid medical treatment. On April 15, 1976, the first medical team of 29 members sent from Sichuan went to Mozambique. In the following 50 years, Sichuan has dispatched 98 batches of medical teams with 1,136 people to 10 countries, including Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe, treating more than 7 million patients and conducting more than 2,800 medical rounds.
Lu Xia was originally a clinician. After learning that Sichuan was undertaking foreign aid medical missions to Portuguese-speaking countries, she took the initiative to learn Portuguese. After that, she went to Mozambique and Angola to perform foreign aid missions. From a clinician to a foreign aid medical team member to a foreign aid medical manager, her identity has changed several times, but her mission as a doctor has remained the same. "Every change in identity gives me a deeper understanding of responsibility," Lu Xia said.
It’s not just doctors who have crossed mountains and seas, but also the trust that continues to accumulate.
In 2023, Li Suping, deputy chief physician of the Department of Neurology of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, received the task of serving as the captain of the 21st batch of China (Sichuan) medical team aiding Cape Verde. When she first arrived there, she quickly discovered a problem: Chinese medical teams have been providing foreign medical aid in Cape Verde for many years, but some local people still don't know them. Some people even ask whether Chinese doctors charge for medical treatment. Therefore, while completing the diagnosis and treatment work, Li Suping took the initiative to visit local villages and went with the team to free clinics on different islands. She told the local people over and over again that the Chinese medical team provided free assistance.
Later, when the medical team received an honor from the local area, Li Suping was not thinking of herself. "Behind this honor is not just me." Generations of foreign aid medical team members stayed away from their families, crossed mountains and seas, and performed foreign aid medical missions. "We may treat diseases, but more often than not we pay attention to our hearts."
Over the past 50 years, Sichuan's foreign aid medical methods have also changed. In the past, traveling tens of thousands of kilometers meant that doctors had to reach patients in person; now, medical experts as far away as Chengdu can also participate in the diagnosis and treatment of African patients through the Internet.
Chen Yi, director of the Infection Management Department and professor of gastrointestinal surgery at West China Hospital of Sichuan University, served as the captain of the 15th batch of China (Sichuan) medical aid team to Sao Tome and Principe. After arriving there, he noticed that the local medical resources were relatively limited and the number of doctors was also small. At that time, the telemedicine system of West China Hospital of Sichuan University was relatively mature, and Chen Yi came up with an idea: Can the expert resources of West China Hospital be connected with medical teams in Africa? After preliminary research, the medical team worked with local hospitals and health departments to promote the construction of a remote consultation platform, allowing experts from West China Hospital in Chengdu to become the "backup team" of the foreign aid medical team.
The changes don’t stop with remote diagnosis and treatment. Chen Yi introduced that during the period of foreign aid, the Chinese medical team also carried out academic and technical exchanges through medical conferences and other methods, in which local doctors and nurses participated. After the foreign aid mission ended, students and doctors from Sao Tome and Principe came to West China Hospital of Sichuan University to study.
From doctors going abroad, to experts participating in diagnosis and treatment through the Internet, to overseas medical personnel coming to China to study, Sichuan's foreign aid medical cooperation has gradually extended from clinical diagnosis and treatment to technical exchanges and talent training.
Sichuan is currently the only province in the country responsible for sending foreign aid medical teams to Portuguese-speaking countries, and it is also the province with the largest number of countries sending foreign aid medical teams. Over the past 50 years, Sichuan's foreign aid medical content has continuously expanded from clinical diagnosis and treatment to technical training, telemedicine, public health and other fields.
For Chen Yi, medical experience is not the only thing his foreign aid experience has brought him. He said that experience was "a lifetime treasure." He hopes that some of his students and team members will continue to go out in the future. For Lu Xia, the group photo she saw at the patient's home is still a way for her to understand foreign aid medical care - what Chinese doctors leave behind is not just an operation or a diagnosis and treatment, but also a photo that is treasured by an ordinary family. “This is a career that I hope to stick to for a long time,” Lu Xia said.
