South Sudan medical institute hails Chinese doctors' free capacity building services

JUBA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua)--South Sudan's Health Science Training Institute, a government-aided medical school has appreciated a group of Chinese doctors based in the country for offering free capacity building services to hundreds of medical students in the past one year.

Charles Abe Buli, principal of the institute revealed that the school entered a partnership agreement with the China medical team last year, which allowed the Chinese medics to conduct biweekly lectures in the field of anesthesia and practical medical skills.

"To me, it is a great benefit for us because there are some units in the school lacking lecturers. With their (Chinese) coming, they have covered the gap and improved learning," Buli told Xinhua on Tuesday.

Previously facing manpower shortage in the anesthesiology department, Buli said the cooperation between the institution and the Chinese doctors have helped to bridge the gap and enabled his students to improve their theoretical and practical knowledge on anesthesia.

"My request is that anyone in South Sudan with medical skills is welcome to help and give knowledge to the students," Buli added.

Since 2013, the China medical team have offered free medical services in South Sudan and also helped with capacity building of health workers and medical students.

The doctors, composed of 13 specialists and two support staff are currently stationed at Juba Teaching and Referral Hospital, with routine outreach programs across South Sudan.

"I have benefited a lot from the anesthesia lectures given by the Chinese doctor because you cannot do operations without anesthesia," said medical student Anet Gune.

Anesthesiologist Zhou Chang, said he was impressed by the dedication of the medical students towards his lectures.

"The students are very hungry for knowledge and each student is very attentive and focused. The good thing is that they are also ready to ask questions that help me to have good preparations each time I want to have lecturers," Zhou said.

"Actually I'm getting a lot of knowledge and experience from the Chinese doctor. We are having a lot of practice on how to use some anesthesia equipment," Chan Mijak, a second-year student pursuing a diploma in Theater Medical Technician.