Thelionwithin
Courageous Chinese medical team overcomes difficulties and makes a difference in Senegal
Despite all the difficulties, we are helping the Senegalese population with our limited medical capacity, and it is absolutely worth it.
Dr. Zhang Maoshi often jokes that he was predestined to come to Africa since birth. His given name - Maoshi - literally contains the Chinese character for “lion.” In what appears to be a matter of fate, the 53-year-old doctor is now working in Senegal, home of the Senegalese lion.
“It is surely destiny that drove me to come to Africa,” said Zhang, with tongue in cheek.
The African continent - previously a faraway and mysterious land which he knew for its wildlife - has now become part of Zhang’s life since he set foot in Senegal as part of a Chinese medical team.
Zhang left his hometown of Zhangzhou, in southeast China’s Fujian Province, on September 1, 2015, along with 11 doctors and an interpreter, for Senegal, where they will work for a period of two years as part of the 16th medical team to Senegal of the Fujian Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission.
Shortly after their arrival, the team settled near the Pikine National Hospital Center, in the Senegalese capital Dakar, and soon got to work alongside their local colleagues. Zhang, an experienced researcher and chief physician specializing in Chinese medicine, has been chosen to head the team.
“We were dispatched in different sections of the hospital, and we started treating patients,” Wang Yuanquan, the team’s surgeon, told Chinafrica. “I know our task is difficult in this distant and foreign country, but I really want to do everything possible to help treat Senegalese patients.”
With a “Chinese lion” as their head, the team members felt invigorated, despite being apprehensive about the coming challenges of working under difficult conditions far from their home. patients, who are then seen and treated by Chinese specialist doctors.
“Medical care is a major concern for our local population. The voluntary consultations provided by the Chinese medical team meet very well the urgent demands of the local residents,” said Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, Minister of Local Governance, Development and Territory Management of Senegal, while inspecting the team’s activities.
According to the Fujian Health and Family Planning Commission, starting from 1975, the province has sent a total of 258 medical experts to Senegal.
“The officials on the Senegalese side tell us that the local communities put a lot of hope in us, and that they have been waiting for us for a long time,” said Zhang, adding that the number of people who sought consultations on that day was much more than they expected. In order to treat everyone, some team members even gave up their lunch time.
So far, the Chinese team has conducted six similar voluntary consultation activities, each time helping more than 300 people, both in the capital Dakar and in other cities such as Thiès.
“When we conduct this kind of voluntary activities, we often encounter people with all kinds of diseases and we are at risk of being infected. One time, we arrived in a village where there were several cases of leprosy; that really gave us a good scare! Leprosy is a terrible disease, but we treated all patients despite the risk of contamination,” said Yan Shanghai, a 35-year-old acupuncturist, with a glimmer of pride in his eyes.