Feature: Chinese doctor wins hearts of South Sudanese medics

by Julius Gale

JUBA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese doctor working for the China medical team in South Sudan has received enormous praise from his local counterparts for his exceptional work in the conflict-torn east African country.

Since coming to South Sudan a year ago, Zhu Ming, an anesthesiologist who is tasked with perioperative care of patients before and after surgery has won the hearts of many South Sudanese health workers because of his readiness to share knowledge and interact freely with locals.

Nicknamed Dr. Peter by his colleagues at the Juba Teaching Hospital, Zhu has become a role model for many anesthetists in South Sudan.

"As soon as Peter arrived from China, he has been a kind and very humble person and ready to do whatever is needed from him," said Felix Samuel, a South Sudanese anesthesiologist and close friend of Zhu.

"I'm very proud to have worked with him because I have gained some experience now. His going back to China is sad to me," he added.

Fredrick Khamis, president of the College of Surgeons and Physicians of South Sudan described the Chinese medic as a valuable asset that China has ever sent to South Sudan.

Khamis said out of the 15-member China medical team in South Sudan, Zhu was particularly able to forge a special relationship with his South Sudanese counterparts, which helped him to win the trust of his coworkers and patients.

"He (Zhu) has been very helping especially in the setup of the theater and doing operations. Not only that he has been very helpful in giving us lectures in the classrooms using the experiences that we have here, he has been a very wonderful asset in the school and the hospital," said Khamis.

Khamis said during Zhu's one- year medical assistance mission in South Sudan, he was able to help in 380 surgeries and also conducted several lectures for medical students.

"One of the important things is that always when he does his work, he tries to train the local staff on how things are done and it's actually a very impressive sort of thing. We hope with the subsequent teams coming around, then we could still get on the same track," Khamis added.

Speaking at a reception ceremony for the 7th batch of the China medical team on Saturday, Issac Cleto, director of Juba Teaching Hospital, hailed Zhu's dedication to serve and impart his knowledge free of charge to the people of South Sudan.

"In a special way, I want to thank Dr. Peter who made us very, very confident in doing major surgeries in our setup which is not up to date," said Cleto.

"He made us to correct so many mistakes and all the challenges that we used to face because we and the Chinese work as a team," said Cleto.

Since 2013, the Chinese doctors have helped with live-saving surgeries and offered capacity building to South Sudanese health workers.

The seventh batch of the China medical team arrived in South Sudan on Saturday for a one-year medical assistance mission in the east African country.

The 15-member team, composed of 13 specialist doctors and two support staffs will replace the outgoing 6th batch.

In his farewell message to colleagues at Juba Teaching Hospital, Zhu appreciated the collaboration he had with the South Sudanese doctors.

"In the past year, there are many operations and medical challenges that we faced together, but I have learned from the local doctors and they also learned from me," Zhu said.

"I found that the local people are kind and very friendly to me, and they are also good people." Zhu said.