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Overseas medical teams need more support from home

By Maverick Chen: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, August 11, 2011

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Chinese medical aid teams in Africa have often been hailed as the angels who bring health to local people. They deliver free care, training and other medical assistance to the African people. Receiving prestigious awards from foreign governments has been recognition of their effort and contribution.

Overseas medical teams need more support from home.[Ministry of Health]

But despite the honors they receive, their difficulties are rarely known, said Dr. Wang Liji, head of the Ministry of Health's International Cooperation Department.

China currently has medical aid teams deployed in 48 developing countries, with 42 in Africa. In their daily work with local doctors, the 1,100 Chinese medical workers are facing hazards themselves.

The countries to which China sends medical teams have poor public health conditions. The lack of basic medicine and medical equipment bottlenecks the improvement of public health. Infectious diseases such as malaria and typhoid still afflict many local people.

Most of these countries lack special hospitals for infectious disease due to a shortage of funding. In the few general hospitals that exist, quarantine is far from satisfactory.

In such primitive conditions, Chinese medical teams are helping African people fight disease and also exposing themselves to a more hazardous environment than back home.

Infection with malaria is most common among Chinese doctors. Almost no one can escape being infected with malaria at least once or twice during their two to three years of service in Africa, Wang said.

"Our medical teams are so used to malaria that every infected doctor will treat it with the same calm they have dealing with a cold," said Dr. Wang.

But Wang said these are difficulties that Chinese medical teams know about in advance and are fully prepared for.

"This is exactly why we are there. We are there to improve the situation. This is what we do," he said.

Wang also said that compared with these medical hazards, "non-medical problems" such as accommodations and pay are more pressing difficulties.

Recipient countries usually provide accommodation for Chinese doctors – part of the bilateral deal – but the conditions of the housing are far from satisfactory. Most of the dormitories are out of repair, with little or no facilities. Some doctors are even placed to live in basements or semi-basements. Water shortages and blackouts are commonplace, the Ministry of Health said.

Wang said the conditions of accommodation and the living environment is "grave" compared with those of Chinese diplomats, even those living in the same countries.

"I don't see our medical teams' work as less important than that of a diplomat," he said. "Our doctors are stationed in the most remote villages in sub-Saharan Africa, their work is demanding and they at least deserve decent living conditions," Wang said.

He said more funding should be provided to China's overseas medical teams so they can build their own housing facilities.

Wang said the Ministry of Health is only responsible for the organization and deployment of medical aid teams. His department doesn't have authority to provide funding.

"Sending medical teams to developing countries is a long-term project. We will stay and serve in those countries as long as is needed. A better living environment will facilitate our work, and leave the medical workers' families back home less worried," he said.

The yuan's appreciation against the U.S. dollar also undercuts Chinese medical teams' subsidies, Wang said. The medical teams receive their allowances in U.S. dollars. Since 2007, the dollar has depreciated by around 15 percent against the yuan; hence, the medical workers' actual income has shrunk substantially.

"This isn't good to keep up their morale," Wang said. He proposed the government raise medical teams' salaries to make "it no less than that of Chinese diplomat" and pay them in renminbi.

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