11th batch of Chinese medical team honored in South Sudan

JUBA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan and the Chinese embassy on Thursday awarded certificates to the outgoing 11th batch of the Chinese medical team, recognizing their excellent medical services to the local people in the youngest country of the world.

Yolanda Awel Deng Juach, South Sudanese minister of health, said Chinese medical teams have positively impacted the country's health sector by sharing medical knowledge and skills.

"When Chinese doctors come here, they are also learning from us; there are some techniques that we have here that are localized to South Sudan that they will leave with. So for me, I take it as a symbiotic relationship," Deng said during the ceremony held in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

She praised the 11th batch of the Chinese medical team for their medical outreach services, which have benefited local communities outside the capital.

She noted that the ongoing second phase of the Juba Teaching Hospital modernization and expansion project, which is being implemented by the Chinese government, will not only improve the delivery of health services, but also bring technological upgrades.

Anthony Lupai Simon, director-general of the hospital, said the 11th batch of the Chinese medical team has been dedicated to both treating the sick and training local South Sudanese medical staff at the health facility.

Ma Wenjun, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in South Sudan, said the Chinese medical team has made selfless contributions and worked tirelessly, achieving outstanding results and gaining recognition, praise, and respect from the people of South Sudan.

"I hope the 12th batch of Chinese medical team will follow in these footsteps, carry forward the spirit of overcoming difficulties, be willing to contribute more, save lives with boundless love, treat South Sudan as their second home, serve patients here wholeheartedly, and make new and greater contributions to promoting China-South Sudan medical cooperation and deepening friendship between our two countries," Ma said.

Chen Si, leader of the outgoing 11th batch of the Chinese medical team, said the pediatric department, infectious disease department, and laboratory department of his team launched a series of theoretical and practical training through a counterpart hospital cooperation mechanism between China and South Sudan, which effectively improved local doctors' ability to diagnose and treat common infectious diseases.

Du Changyong, leader of the 12th batch of the Chinese medical team, said they will work to develop the specialist center and push forward to construct the cooperation mechanism between counterpart hospitals in South Sudan and China.

Over the past 12 years, a total of 164 Chinese medical personnel have served in South Sudan, providing medical care to over 70,000 patients, performing more than 1,000 surgeries, and conducting over 1,300 endoscopic examinations. They have also conducted 21 free clinics in grassroots communities, treating over 30,000 patients.