File photo shows Chinese doctors and local medical staff perform an operation at the Ethio-China Friendship Hospital, located in Akaki at the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa,Ethiopia, Aug. 17, 2018. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai)
ADDIS ABABA, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Huang Qi, a Chinese neurosurgeon, is no ordinary man in Ethiopia's Akaki neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa.
Courtesy to the numerous successful neurosurgeries that Huang performed to Ethiopians who flock to the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital - also known as the Ethio-China Friendship Hospital - to get healing from their sufferings, he is now a host of constant appreciation and gratitude from his patients.
Huang, who is a member of the 21st batch of the Chinese medical team that constitutes 16 medical professionals who have specialized in various sub-fields, has been tirelessly serving Ethiopians based at the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital, which was built with financial support from the Chinese government on the outskirts of the capital.
"We have had so many occasions in which patients, who were given slim survival possibilities from their doctors and physicians, walk out of our hospital healthy and pay their sincere gratitude to the joint Ethiopian and Chinese medical team," Huang told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"Our reward is to see hopeless patients walk again with relief from their pains and suffering after tiresome but satisfying operations," he added.
The 21st batch of the Chinese medical team, which is conducting a one-year healthcare service in Ethiopia, is the continuation of China's medical mission to Ethiopia that has been serving the people of the East African country since 1974.
The life-saving service of Huang and his fellow Chinese medical professionals has also received much appreciation from the Ethiopian government.
"The lifesaving contribution of China's medical assistance to Ethiopia, which lasts for more than four decades, is a successful manifestation of the growing Ethiopia-China friendship," Yohannes Chala, Head of Addis Ababa Health Bureau, told Xinhua.
"The Ethiopian government appreciates the efforts extended by the government of China through its mission in Ethiopia to improve healthcare delivery across the country," Chala said, as he described China's assistance to have "paramount importance to the healthcare system to gear up to date with regard to knowledge and other required inputs."
Chala noted that "all the 21 consecutive Chinese medical teams and their members who have sacrificed more than their time and energy to provide such level of care to our people."
He congratulated the Chinese professionals for "establishing the basis for traditional Chinese medical treatments in hospitals in Ethiopia as it gained much appreciation from the community for its healing ability."
Chala also noted the Tirunesh Beijing Hospital in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa as "a prime manifestation of the successful China-Ethiopia cooperation in the healthcare sector.
He commended China "for its continued support for the transformation of the public health sector in Ethiopia."
The Ethio-China Friendship Hospital, which signifies the successful Ethiopia-China partnership in the public health sector, constitutes two phases with a total investment of 16.5 million U.S. dollars, which includes an outpatient and inpatient buildings with 100 patient beds as well as various other facilities.
"The Ethiopia-China Friendship Hospital plays a vital role to the health needs of hundreds of thousands of Addis Ababa city habitat," Chala said.
"Many have come to this hospital seeking relief for their acute and chronic illness and have found relief from their pains and sufferings," he said.
As part of the Chinese government's continued support to Ethiopia's public health sector, the 21st batch of the Chinese medical team on Friday donated a much-needed orthopedic equipments and pharmaceuticals worth 507,524 RMB (close to 73,000 U.S. dollars) to the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital, which is considered as a model of the successful China-Ethiopia cooperation in the healthcare sector.
According to Jibril Abas, CEO of Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital, the current batches of donations "are very much needed for trauma patients, whom we treat as we are located at the gate of the city."
"Usually the Chinese government sends us a variety of equipment, but the current batch of donations is orthopedic equipments," Abas told Xinhua on Friday. "We have Ethiopian doctors and orthopedic surgeons from the Chinese side, and these professionals form a successful team with these equipments."