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Demonstrating Medical Ethics During Medical-Aid Missions AbroadDecember 14, 2023
Living conditions in the Central African Republic are hard. People here have long suffered from malaria. Due in part to the fact patients fail to receive treatment on a regular basis, the death rate caused by malaria is quite high. Our conditions for providing medical care here are limited, so we try to make some simple equipment on our own, and with which we can perform surgeries. By the end of May, our medical team had received more than 20,000 patients, had carried out 500-plus surgeries, and had provided accessory examinations to more than 3,000 patients. We once treated a young patient, who had suffered with cough and a fever, but who did not feel better after he had received treatment in another hospital. The patient came to our team for help. We gave him a physical exam, and we adjusted the therapy based on the changes in his symptoms. His fever dissipated within a few days, and his cough was not as severe.
We have experienced many such examples. Every time I see a patient has been healed, and as I listen to their words of gratitude and look into their eyes, filled with the emotion of gratitude, I know our efforts have paid off. It is a doctor's duty to cure patients, to carefully complete each examination and/or medical operation. Only if we devote ourselves to healing the wounded and rescuing the dying, and only if we demonstrate medical proficiency and ethics in our missions, can we keep well the reputation of Chinese medical-aid teams abroad. On March 19 this year, nine Chinese were killed during an attack at a gold mine in the Central African Republic. Two other Chinese were severely injured. Our team answered the call from the Chinese Ambassador to the Central African Republic, who asked us to participate in the rescue mission at the gold mine. We backed up each other, as we overcame the difficulties caused by shortages of medicine, equipment and power supply. After more than one week of good care, the two injured patients recovered steadily, before they were transferred to our motherland for further treatment.
As the saying goes, if you give someone a fish, you feed him/her for a day; but if you teach that person to fish, you will feed him/her for a lifetime. I focus on accumulating clinical experience during my daily work. I explain key points of disease-imaging diagnosis to local doctors, and I tell them the current, most-advanced imaging-diagnosis standards, which have been reached by common consent worldwide. I am often invited to participate in multidisciplinary consultations and/or discussions on difficult disease cases. I give advice and suggestions based on my work experience. I hope our medical team's members will help local doctors improve their skills, and to some extent, help advance the level of medical care in this country.
As written in General Secretary Xi's letter: "The Chinese people love peace and cherish lives, which is vividly illustrated by their efforts in international medical assistance." We will continue overcoming various difficulties, in work and life, and we will provide services to local people — not only by saving their lives, but also by building friendship with them, and especially by passing to them our love and care.
Photos Supplied by Wang Jia (Women of China English Monthly August 2023 issue) 32.3KPlease understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images. For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: [email protected]. The articles published and opinions expressed on this website represent the opinions of writers and are not necessarily shared by womenofchina.cn. CommentsMagazinesProjects
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