On Jan. 3, the health Commission of Hebei Province held a flag-awarding ceremony for the 21st Chinese medical team to aid the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It is reported that the medical team flew from Shijiazhuang to Chengdu on January 4 and departed from Chengdu in the early morning of January 5 to carry out a one-year medical aid mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Ethiopia.

According to the agreement between the governments of China and the Congo, the medical team consists of 21 members, mainly from provincial and municipal hospitals and provincial centers for Disease Control and prevention, covering 12 specialties, including internal medicine, surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, medical imaging, public health, traditional Chinese medicine, anesthesia and nursing.

The medical team was set up in August 2022 and has completed pre-departure training on French, foreign-related knowledge, first-aid cardiac skills, infectious disease prevention and control, and safety protection.

It is learnt that Hebei Province began sending aid medical teams to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1973, and has so far sent 21 groups of 545 personnel.

Since 1999, medical teams have been dispatched to Nepal with 14 groups of 245 personnel.

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Hebei's foreign health aid work. Over the past 50 years, medical teams have treated more than 4 million patients, performed more than 100,000 operations, and trained more than 1,200 medical workers for recipient countries.

With their superb medical skills and noble medical ethics, the team members have won unanimous praise from the international community and high praise from the people of the recipient countries. More than 80 medical team members in Hebei Province have been awarded the Presidential Medal, Knight Medal and Officer Medal, or awarded the title of "Honorary citizen".

(Credit: Zhang Shuhui, Hebei Daily)