Beacon of hope in pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the dedication of healthcare professionals became a beacon of hope. In early 2020, as the world grappled with uncertainty, Chinese medical teams bravely stepped forward to stand firm on the frontlines of medical assistance and pandemic control.
Yuan Shuai, Deputy Chief Physician at the Hebei Chest Hospital in North China’s Hebei Province, was among those who answered the call. From June 2020 to January 2023, he was among the 19th and 20th batches of the Chinese medical team sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), working continuously for 31 months.
On June 8, 2020, Yuan and his team took off, becoming the first medical team to complete their mission handover during the pandemic in a timely fashion. “Each of us carried over 100 kilograms of medical supplies for epidemic prevention,” he remarked.
Despite challenging conditions, upon arrival in the DRC, the medical team swiftly followed embassy arrangements, initiating epidemic prevention campaigns, and establishing telephone and online consultation services. All these efforts helped fortify the first line of defense against COVID-19.
According to Yuan, the medical team also conducted the “Bring Medical Services to the Most Hard-hit Villages” initiative. At weekends, team members utilized their time off duty to bring Chinese medical services to the poorest and most remote rural areas, providing consultations for over a thousand people.
“Sometimes, we even went into forests to provide medical care to local villagers,” Yuan told the Global Times. “When I saw the children in those villages,
The year 2023 marked the 60th anniversary of China’s dispatch of medical aid teams to Africa and the 55th anniversary of the Beijing medical aid team. The story of aiding Africa continues, with the 30th batch of medical aid medics led by the Beijing Anzhen Hospital arriving in Conakry, Guinea, on the evening of September 5, especially those suffering from malnutrition,
I felt that what we were doing was still far from enough,” he said.
In the long days and nights in the DRC, Yuan was not just a doctor in the medical team; he was a versatile figure, seamlessly switching between roles and leveraging his abilities and selfless spirit. During the aid period, he was on call twice, took on multiple emergency assignments, and established additional medical points.
In 2021, as the global pandemic raged on, Yuan, as a member of the medical team aiding the DRC, participated on the “Spring Seedling Action,” assisting in administering over 13,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Since 1973, Hebei Province has undertaken the crucial mission of sending medical teams to the DRC. Over the last half-century, Hebei Province has dispatched 21 batches, totaling 544 medical team members, reflecting not only the honorable task assigned by the Party and the country to Hebei Province but also a profound manifestation of the China-Africa friendship.