Working wonders with TCM
Chinese medical team in Solomon Islands wins respect with professionalism, sincerity
Davis used to be a healthy, happy 19-yearold living on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. His life was devastated by cerebral malaria a year ago, which left him unable to speak, chew and control his face muscles.
Until he met the Chinese doctor Lei Yandong from the Chinese medical team in Solomon Islands, Davis’s symptoms finally got improved significantly.
Davis’s story not only impressed local doctors, but also caught great attention among local newspapers. “Chinese doctors are working wonders with acupuncture,” reads the headline of The Island Sun.
In March, based on the relevant protocol signed by the governments of China and the Solomon Islands, the first batch of Chinese medical team with six members arrived in Solomon Islands for a oneyear work.
The medical team, with great sincerity, has not only shown the good image of Chinese doctors, but also won the trust and respect from local doctors and patients.
Here come Chinese doctors
Under the request of the Solomon Islands government, on February 24, the two countries signed a protocol on dispatching Chinese medical teams to work in the Solomon Islands.
The task was handed over to Southwest China’s Guizhou Province. After about two weeks, the medical team was formed officially, and the six members arrived at the southern Pacific country on March 22.
The work of the medical team includes directly providing medical services to patients in the aided hospital, teaching and training doctors and conducting free clinic visits and health education, Zhou Xinfa, leader of the medical team, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.
The team also makes full use of the resources back in China, expanding the service capacity of the medical team.
They also provide diagnosis and treatment consultation for Chinese companies and overseas Chinese citizens in the Solomon Islands.
Zhou is from the Guizhou Provincial Health Commission and is in charge of the overall work of the medical team. In the team, general practitioner Mu Qiong, nephrologist Xu Junjun a and acupuncturist Lei Yandong, who treated Davis, are doctors from the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University. In addition, the team also contains an interpreter and a chef.
The Chinese medical team has been working at the National Referral Hospital in the capital Honiara of the
Solomon Islands.
Though being the country’s top public hospital, the National Referral Hospital faces problems such as low-quality medical services, outdated hardware, and a lack of medicines and equipment – the hospital itself was rebuilt on the field hospital of the US during World War II.
Facing such a situation, the medical team has made preparations in
advance. They carried medicines with a total value of 1 million yuan ($147,000) with them to the Solomon Islands.
On August 5, the first hemodialysis machine donated by China was delivered to the National Referral Hospital.
“The Solomon Islands were not capable of hemodialysis before, and the new equipment and consumables donated by China brought hope to local patients with kidney failure,” Zhou said, adding that Doctor Xu has begun to teach local collogues the techniques of kidney dialysis.
As the first batch of Chinese medical team, they face a great challenge in making local islanders entrust their health and life to them.
The magical acupuncture
“Thank you China Medical Team, especially Doctor Jack Lei for giving much of your time with your experiences and technics in delivering acupuncture treatment to me as one of your patients,” wrote a local resident on the Facebook page of the Chinese medical team.
In less than half a year, Lei, an expert in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture from the medical team, has changed the local people’s attitude toward acupuncture from “never heard before” to “such a magic.”
Under disbelief and doubts from local doctors, Lei took over Davis, whose situation was believed by local doctors to be untreatable.
However, after three treatments, Davis was able to chew and pronounce. After 10 treatments of acupunctures, Davis has been able to eat normal food by himself.
“Local doctors, Davis and his relatives thought it was magical,” Zhou said. “Patients began to queue outside the rehabilitation department clinics.”
Currently, Lei has effectively treated many patients with facial paralysis, lumbar disc herniation, shoulder and neck pain or other symptoms. Local doctors and people have a new understanding of traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. “It is with great excitement that we have learned that many patients undergoing acupuncture are reporting improvements to their bodies. This will be an area where my ministry will further look into to ensure that we support our local medical professionals who will pursue further education in the area of Acupuncture,” Dr. Culwick Togamana, Minister of Health and Medical Services of the Solomon Islands, said while visiting the Chinese medical team in May. Zhou revealed that in the future, the exchanges and training of medical personnel between China and the Solomon Islands will be more frequent. Recently, two doctors from the National Referral Hospital voluntarily started learning acupuncture with Lei.
At present, a group of medical students from the island country have gone to China for study.