Hebei medical team treats Nepali patients

Zhang Wei is proud to have helped put together the 13th Chinese medical team that conducted minimally invasive surgeries at a cancer hospital in Nepal, contributing to the advancement of the country's healthcare services.

Zhang, who led the team of 17 medical professionals and is also head of the Urology Department at the Baoding-based Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, specializes in minimally invasive surgeries on urological tumors.

Such surgeries are preferred over general operations because they cause less trauma to the body and less postoperative pain for the patient. In addition, patients can recover more quickly.

During their mission from September 2020 to June 2022 at the B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in central-southern Nepal, Zhang and his team not only saved some local patients' lives, but also introduced advanced medical techniques and traditional Chinese medicine to Nepal.

The hospital was built with a grant from the Chinese government in December 1998. China began sending medical teams the following year.

"Despite being Nepal's most comprehensive cancer hospital, minimally invasive surgeries were not being conducted often enough due to inadequate equipment and limited awareness," Zhang said, adding that his primary focus at the hospital was on developing minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries.

According to Zhang, based on the efforts of previous Chinese medical teams, he and his team, successfully performed multiple complex laparoscopic surgeries during their 21-month stay.

Among them was the successful removal of a massive pheochromocytoma (a type of tumor) through retroperitoneal laparoscopy－a high-risk procedure.

"The patient had been refused admission by several hospitals in Nepal due to the high risk of the surgery and its high degree of difficulty," Zhang said.

Upon learning of the Chinese medical team's presence, the patient traveled over four hours to reach the hospital.