Xiplomacy: Building China-Africa community of health for all with dedication and action

ON MISSIONS TO HEAL AND RESCUE

"I could not see well in the right eye, and sometimes, after taking a few steps, it felt like I was about to fall. I came to the hospital and was diagnosed with cataract," Elizabeth Dzokpe, a retired nurse from Kpando in the Volta Region of Ghana, told Xinhua.

To help her restore sight, the Chinese medical team stationed at the LEKMA Hospital in the country's capital Accra offered a free surgery, and now Dzokpe regained a normal vision.

Dzokpe is one of the many beneficiaries of such free surgeries the medical team performed since last November. This program intends to treat as many low-income Ghanaians with cataracts as possible.

"Next to the gift of life is the gift of sight, because our sight lightens our world and makes us appreciate our existence better," said Ghanaian Deputy Minister for Health Mahama Asei Seini.

The Chinese people love peace and cherish lives, which is vividly illustrated by their efforts in international medical assistance, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a reply letter to the 19th Chinese medical team dispatched to the Central African Republic earlier this month.

True indeed. In Botswana, the 16th Chinese medical team dispatched to the country has performed 6,081 operations on local patients, rescued 4,044 critically ill patients, and delivered 605 babies over the last two years. Working in Sierra Leone for more than a year, the 23rd Chinese medical team has treated some 18,000 patients and made multiple breakthroughs in surgeries.

"These Chinese doctors made great sacrifices, and their stories are unfolding in the continent every day. This kind of humanity should be praised, and their stories will be told from generation to generation," Benjamin Anyagre, general secretary of the Ghana-China Friendship Association, told Xinhua.