South Sudan and the Chinese Embassy on Thursday awarded certificates to the outgoing tenth batch of the Chinese medical team, recognizing their excellent medical services to the local people in the youngest nation of the world.

During the award ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, Atem Nathan Nyuon, acting undersecretary in the Ministry of Health, commended successive Chinese medical teams for their positive contribution in transforming the health sector of the country since 2012.

"China medical teams chose to stand with South Sudanese together to face difficulties, and the modernization of Juba Teaching Hospital is robust evidence showing China's strong support to the development of our health sector. China's medical teams come here not only to treat our patients but to give us a better understanding of modern medicine through various training sessions for our young doctors," Nyuon said.

Anthony Lupai Simon, director-general of Juba Teaching Hospital, said the Chinese medical teams have not only been stationed in Juba Teaching Hospital but also been working in remote and hard-to-reach areas such as Paloch, Panyagor and Rumbek.

"It is not only medical service that they do, clinical practice but there is also training that they have been conducting from time to time. We had the tenth batch help us by training our cadres locally here and also some were sent for training in China," Lupai Simon said. "As we speak we have a good number of people who are currently undergoing training in China because the hospital is expanding and we need a good capacity of people who are going to cater to the expanded hospital."

Xu Zhangwei, team leader of the tenth batch of the Chinese medical team, said their infectious diseases department and laboratory department launched a series of theoretical and practical training regularly, which has effectively improved local doctors' ability to diagnose and treat common infectious diseases.

"Under our tireless effort, a full-new pathology department, a telediagnosis center and an infectious disease laboratory with equipment and medical supplies of nearly $1 million are going to be handed over this year," Xu said.

Chen Si, team leader of the incoming 11th batch of the Chinese medical team in South Sudan, said his team is honored to follow in the footsteps of the 10th batch of the Chinese medical team and continue their commendable work in providing healthcare assistance to the people of South Sudan. "The dedication and efforts of the previous team have set a high standard for us, and we are committed to upholding and surpassing their achievements," Chen said.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the dispatch of Chinese medical teams all over the world. In 1963, China dispatched the first medical team to Algeria. Over the six decades, China has sent 30,000 medical personnel to 76 countries and treated 290 million patients.

The first batch of Chinese medical team arrived in South Sudan in 2012. The China medical teams have set up an electronic gastroscopy department, and a cervical screening center in Juba Teaching Hospital and also supported four batches of 33 South Sudanese medical staff in studying and training in China.

Over the past 11 years since the first batch of the Chinese medical team to South Sudan arrived in Juba in 2012, 149 Chinese medical workers have come to work in the East African country and treated 64,409 outpatients, performed 1,206 operations of various types, carried out gastroscopy examinations for 1,199 people, and conducted 19 free medical camps in outreach regions of the country, which have served 30,245 patients in total.

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