Jilin medical workers back from Samoa after aid mission
Members of the medical team gather at the airport in Changchun on Sept 2, before heading home. [Photo/cnjiwang.com]
The third team of medical workers from Northeast China's Jilin province -- who were dispatched to the South Pacific island nation of Samoa -- successfully completed their medical aid mission and returned to the province's capital of Changchun on Sept 2, according to local media reports.
The team, which comprised six doctors from the China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, arrived in Samoa on Aug 9, 2019 to start work.
Officials said the medics were originally set to return to the hospital early in February, but the medical team postponed their travel plans in order to participate in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic in Samoa.
During the 376-day assistance period, team members completed more than 6,000 outpatient visits and provided more than 1,800 consultations. They also performed more than 450 operations, gave over 2,000 pathological reports and had more than 20 overseas referral meetings and multidisciplinary comprehensive consultations, as well as providing four free medical consultations.
In addition, they also taught medical technology to local medics through clinical teaching courses, joint operations and special lectures.
China's Jilin medical assistance program to Samoa lasts two years and is shared between four medical institutions. In principle, medical teams rotate every six months.