Saving lives, sharing knowledge

Chinese doctors working in Africa face tough conditions, but the rewards are priceless

Che Hao looked happy and excited about going back to work as a doctor in Guinea.

The 35-year-old Che left for his second stint in Guinea on Aug 19 and won't be back for a year.

In August 2012, Beijing Anzhen Hospital chose 19 doctors to provide medical assistance at a local hospital in Guinea, including Che. After working there for a year, they came back for a month-long vacation.

Che graduated from Capital Medical University in Beijing. He first worked at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, but later transferred to Anzhen Hospital, where he thought he could improve his anesthetic skills.

Last year he went to work at a local hospital in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. When he arrived the hospital could only manage three operations in four months. With his help, they did 210 in the year he was there.

"The reason why so few operations could be done was because they didn't have enough anesthetic expertise, and by going to work there I was able to help them perform more operations," Che says. "I was also able to pass on some techniques to the local specialists."

This year is the 50th anniversary of China starting to send medical teams abroad. Since the first team went to Algeria, China has sent 23,000 medical people to 66 countries. Currently, about 1,100 Chinese medical staff are working at 113 medical centers in 50 countries worldwide.

Overall, China has sent about 20,000 doctors to 51 African countries. Of those, 962 have received presidential medals for their contribution to healthcare in Africa. Currently Chinese medical staff are working in 43 African countries.

Che is younger than most of the 18 colleagues who also went with him to work in Guinea, but what he achieved impressed many of them, as well as the local patients. They all realized he had made many sacrifices to help African patients.

When Che first applied to work in Africa, he never imagined conditions there would be so tough.

"I was quite shocked after I saw so many patients waiting so long to see a doctor," he says. "Some of them had to spend their life savings on treatment.

"Because the medical supplies at the hospital were quite limited, they even used medicine produced 30 years ago."

At Conakry, Che had to perform some very difficult operations but he could never refuse people in desperate need.

"Some operations involved babies who were less than one year old. If I didn't do the surgery, they would not live past 3," he says.

"Sometimes the lights went off because the electricity supply was cut. When that happened we had to use torchlight to finish the surgery. Sometimes, because of the lack of supplies and equipment, I had to figure out how to finish an operation without making any major errors despite the bad conditions."

Che also risked his own life and health to do his work.

According to Ministry of Health figures, more than half of the Chinese doctors who worked in Africa, over the age of 50, caught malaria, and about 50 died due to accidents, disease or war.

In one simple but dangerous incident in Mali, a Chinese doctor was operating on a patient who had HIV/AIDS. Accidentally some of the patient's blood splashed into the doctor's eye. After quickly treating her eye, the doctor continued to finish the operation.

Che says the most dangerous thing he witnessed was when he and a colleague were walking in their courtyard. Suddenly they heard gunfire and his colleague was almost hit by a stray bullet.

"The bullet struck 5 meters from his feet," Che says. "He just picked it up and pretended to be calm but I could see he was very frightened."

Che and his colleagues tried to stay in good health in Africa by playing basketball and badminton. Sometimes they grew vegetables in their courtyard so they could eat fresh healthy food.

"The main food we could have there were onions, potatoes and cabbages. My wife even joked that I lost a lot of weight working in Guinea," Che says.

No matter how tough working conditions were, Che says he would stick with his choice as he was touched by the African people's optimistic personalities and always wanted to help them.

"Some people came a long way to get treatment from us, and even if we told them there was about a 50 percent failure rate for the operation, they would still trust us and ask us to do it," he says.

Che will never forget one tragic incident when, because of the lack of medical supplies at the hospital, a boy died after being bitten by a snake.

"The boy's parents kept begging us to save their son, but we did not have any blood for a transfusion. I will never forget the moment when the boy passed away," Che says.

Che's challenge on his second visit is to help the Guinean doctors master anesthesia.

"Most of my African colleagues have high expectations about us, and they are really keen to learn new things from us," he says. "If there are people there who can help them, their limitations can be easily fixed."

Che says apart from teaching the local doctors the techniques of anesthesia, he will help them formulate a correct system for surgery, including scientific procedures for anesthesia management.

Che says he is grateful for his experiences in Africa as they have helped him develop his skills and made him a psychologically stronger person. He also feels he has learned more about life in general.

"I have learned from African people how to be content with the simple things in life," he says, "and also how important it is to give something back to people."

liaoxue@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/23/2013 page8)