Medical workers honored for missions abroad

President Xi Jinping met with doctors and health aid workers who have participated in medical missions abroad at an event held on Friday in Beijing to mark the 60th anniversary of China dispatching its first international medical aid team.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, congratulated the medical professionals and extended his best regards to them for their selfless contributions to international medical aid missions.

Xi arrived at the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People at around 11:30 am and was greeted with a big round of applause. The president waved at the representatives of international medical missions, had a cordial exchange with them and then joined them for a group photo.

Liu Guozhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice-premier, delivered a speech at the event. He said the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to medical missions abroad.

For the past 60 years, Chinese doctors and health aid workers have won high praise for their medical skills and kind hearts from the local people and governments in the countries they visited, Liu said.

He called for continued efforts to promote their spirit, to strive to open up new fronts in such work, and to make even greater contributions toward building a global community of health for all.

A total of 30 outstanding international medical aid groups and 60 outstanding individuals were commended at the event. Xu Jie, a traditional Chinese medicine expert from Jiangxi province, was among the individuals who were honored.

In 2012, Xu — an expert in the acupuncture technique — went to the Republic of Tunisia as part of China's long-running health aid effort in the North African country. During his six-year stay, he helped create a training center for acupuncture practitioners at one of the country's top hospitals in the town of La Marsa.

"The enthusiasm and expectations of the local people deeply touched my heart," he said at a symposium on Friday, which followed the event at the Great Hall of the People and was attended by other medical aid workers. "Because of that, I secretly made up my mind to devote myself to the cause of medical assistance."

Speaking at the symposium, He Weiyang, a urology surgeon from Chongqing who worked in Papua New Guinea, said he returned to China with two foreign apprentices. As part of their training in China, the young doctors from the South Pacific nation followed He from the ward to the operating room.

"I will continue to train excellent doctors in our department as reserve personnel for medical aid missions abroad, and provide better guidance for doctors coming to China for further studies," the surgeon said.