"Friendship · Partnership" on the Outcomes of Med...

"Friendship · Partnership" on the Outcomes of Medical Cooperation between China and Zimbabwe

**File images of 21st medical team from China interacting with visitors to their stand during this year's ZITF in Bulawayo**

Zhou Yangle

Hunan Daily- Prior to the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that took place on September 4-6, Hunan Daily specially assigned a contingent to report on "Friendship · Partnership" in Zimbabwe. There the journalists garnered first-hand information on the fruitful cooperation between China and Zimbabwe in healthcare.

On September 7, a report titled "They Are a Gift from China to the People of Zimbabwe" was published in the Hunan Daily, alongside photos and videos elaborating on how the 21st medical team from China (Hunan) carried out medical and health care work in Zimbabwe.

In March 2024, an 11-member team set off from Hunan. Bound for Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, they would do a one-year stint for providing medical assistance in the country. Day after day, they, together with local medical workers, made the rounds of the wards, performed surgeries, and applied joint consultation. They also provided free medical services and publicized the scientific knowledge of health in local communities, while engaging in training and capacity building peculiar to medical workers of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. They spared no effort

to bring China's medical ideas, services and techniques to the African continent, with a view to leveling up local medical technology and protecting the lives and health of the people of Zimbabwe.

Charlotte Muziri, crowned "Miss Zimbabwe Queen" in 2022, served as a volunteer at the Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine Center. Apprenticed to Hu Sha, a TCM doctor from Hunan, she learned acupuncture. "Chinese doctors are amiable to local patients. They are a gift from China to the people of Zimbabwe," said she.

This year, the Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine Center built the first TCM Emergency Room and TCM Exhibition Room in Africa. The project is supported by the First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine with technical and financial support, in order to provide more and better windows and platforms for displaying, spreading and promoting traditional Chinese medicine in Zimbabwe.

"China's medical team has helped us improve abilities of diagnosis and treatment and raise clinical standards, which is a milestone in our history of bettering medical services," added Mr Terence Mautsi, Head of Public Relations Office, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.

The remote training program has enabled a "perpetual medical team" to thrive in the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals. The joint effort in capacity building is applauded by Dr. Tsitsi Magure, Clinical Director of the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, "The remote training program is good for our medical workers. We appreciate China's medical team for doing such an excellent job!"

In 1985, the first medical team was sent from Hunan, China to Zimbabwe, fostering a profound friendship between the two countries. They have invariably stood in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe through thick and thin, with hearts closely linked together, for 39 years. On this land of long and profound history and vibrancy, new chapters of the story of love and lives are written with continuity.