Reporter Xing Xiaojing and Liu Xin.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 60th anniversary of China's dispatch of medical teams to foreign countries. The China-Africa co-production of the foreign-aid medical drama "Welcome to McNugget Village" is currently on the air, and the main place of the drama's story "McNugget Village" is based on Pemba Island, where the Chinese medical team in Zanzibar, Tanzania is stationed, and tells the moving story of Chinese medical team members going to Africa for medical assistance and establishing deep friendship with the local people. Liu Xin, a pediatrician at the First People's Hospital of Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, is one of the many Chinese medical team members who spent a year at Abdullah Mcai Hospital on Pemba Island from September 2020 to September 2021. In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Liu Xin talked about her personal experience of the relationship between Chinese doctors and Africa, and witnessed the selfless perseverance of the Chinese medical team in the local area for more than half a century.
Liu Xin's mother, an ophthalmologist, was selected as a reserve member of the medical team to aid Tanzania, but she was unable to make the trip for some reason, which became her regret. Liu Xin refers to her mother's teacher, Dr. Zhou Zhende, as "father-in-law" (a respectful title for elders in Jiangsu), who was part of the second batch of China's medical team to aid Zanzibar, from January 1968 to February 1971. Before aiding Africa, Dr. Zhou Zhende was an ophthalmologist at the Affiliated Hospital of Yancheng Medical College (now Yancheng First People's Hospital). More than 50 years after her father-in-law's aid to Africa, Liu Xin came to Pemba Island in 2020 as an official member of the 30th batch of China's medical team to aid Zanzibar. At that time, she was full of excitement, not only the excitement of realizing her mother's dream, but also the pride of continuing the love of Chinese doctors to help Africa.
However, before he could adapt, Liu Xin encountered a test: 1-year-old and 9-month-old Slaum, who lives in Chakchak Township, accidentally drank organophosphate pesticides, and when his parents found him, he was in a coma, and he was sent to Abdullah Mcai Hospital at 9 p.m. Liu Xin led the local medical staff to start emergency treatment, and when Slaum was out of danger and fell asleep quietly, it was already midnight, and when he returned to the dormitory, Liu Xin found that his clothes had already been soaked with sweat. On another occasion, at around 11:40 p.m., a 7-year-old girl who was dying in a car accident was taken to the hospital. Ultrasound examination revealed that the girl had a large amount of fluid in her abdominal cavity, was unconscious, and her vital signs were unstable. Just when the child was in danger, the Chinese doctor immediately operated on her, and it was found that the girl's spleen had ruptured and she had been in hemorrhagic shock.
Liu Xin told the Global Times that during the days of working at Abdullah Mcai Hospital, she had encountered many similar emergencies, and whenever she saw the children in danger, she would do her best to use local materials, work with local staff, and cooperate with teammates to rescue the children. Liu Xin said that she was 49 years old when she signed up for the aid work in Africa in 2018, thinking that being old was the disadvantage of participating in the medical aid work in Africa, but later found that the accumulated years of work experience was the biggest help for her work in Africa, allowing her to race against time again and again to save the sick children.
The children here have big eyes, and parents like to paint them with thick eyebrows, which look cute. Liu Xin recalled to the Global Times reporter that the parents of the children trust the Chinese doctors very much, actively cooperate with them, and are very grateful. Every time ** discharged, he said "Asanthesana" ("thank you very much" in Swahili). Locals refer to Chinese doctors as DrRukia ("beautiful and kind-hearted doctor" in Swahili) is touching and unforgettable.
During this foreign aid experience, Liu Xin unexpectedly discovered that the director of Abdullah Mcai Hospital Haji was a student of her "father-in-law" back then. In 1970, Director Haji trained as a trainee at Nazmoga Hospital in Zanzibar for five years with the Chinese medical team to assist Africa, where Zhou Zhende was working. Later, from 1975 to 1977, Dean Haji studied at the then Jiangsu New Medical College (now Nanjing Medical University). "I started my career in China, and my subsequent development and work are inextricably linked to China and the Chinese medical team. ”
Dr. Chow also performed cataract surgery on an ophthalmologist named Omar in Zanzibar, who is now in his 90s, is the first director of Abdullah Mso Hospital. Omar told Liu Xin that since 1965, he began to work as an assistant with Chinese ophthalm Xi ologists working at Nazmoga Hospital in Zanzibar, and that he was mentored by two Chinese ophthalmology professors, one of the first medical team members to aid Zanzibar, Professor Li Simei, and the other was Dr. Zhou Zhende. Under the guidance of two Chinese experts, Omar became the best ophthalmologist in Zanzibar and the first local doctors trained by the Chinese medical team. Not only patients from Pemba, but also many people from other parts of Tanzania came to him for eye surgery, and Omar has also trained many excellent ophthalmologists in the area.
Chinese doctors are very respected in the local area, and many of the medical team members will take the initiative to say 'hello' when they walk along the road. Liu Xin told the Global Times that the locals are not wealthy, but they often send some fruits to the Chinese medical team members to express their gratitude. They can't tell the batch of these doctors who aid Africa, but they only know that for more than half a century, there have been doctors from "Qinna" who have been here to save lives and help the wounded.
Liu Xin also told reporters that many of the Zanzibar doctors around her have the experience of studying and studying in China, and some of them are ready to go to China for further study. Her young patients also like to learn Chinese from Chinese doctors and are eager to grow up to study in China. After returning to China, Liu Xin often thought about her life in Zanzibar, and whenever she told the local doctor that she wanted to go back again, he would always say "always welcome". Liu Xin told the Global Times that the Pemba Island in Zanzibar is rich in cloves, and the deep friendship of the Chinese medical team for the people of Zanzibar is like a lilac tree all over the mountains, which has been integrated with the lives of the local people. She also revealed that after retirement, she may return to the local area to volunteer with other foreign aid doctors to contribute to the development of local health and hygiene. ▲