A ceremony to mark the 55th anniversary of the dispatch of Chinese medical teams and the national commendation of advanced collectives and individuals in medical aid was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec 17, 2018. 

Among those who received awards were 29 advanced collectives and 59 advanced individuals. Luo Shiqiao, chief physician of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University and head of the first medical team to work in Barbados, won an  Advanced Individual award, and the Scientific Research and Foreign Affairs Department (Education Department) of Chongqing General Hospital won an Advanced Collective award.

Sun Chunlan, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and vice-premier of the State Council, met with representatives of advanced medical collectives and individuals.

Sun affirmed the achievements China has made in providing medical aid to foreign countries. She stressed that efforts should be put into furthering the innovative development of foreign medical aid so as to better benefit the overall situation of China's foreign affairs, and reform and opening-up; strengthening coordination of medical aid in the new era, and international health cooperation and exchanges with a focus on countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative; and improving policies to expand the benefits of medical personnel. 

Sun encouraged medical personnel to protect lives based on fine traditions and to promote mutual understanding among people, thus driving the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, noted that the CPCCC and the State Council pay great attention to foreign medical aid and have issued a series of important directives to improve that aid, which is of special significance to serving the situation of socialist modernization and foreign affairs.

He urged medical teams to fully comprehend the great significance of optimizing foreign medical assistance in the new era from the historical perspective, to implement decisions and arrangements made by the central authorities, and to perfect the aid consistently and intensify aid measures to ensure the implementation of the overall project. 

Cui Li, vice-director of the National Health Commission, chaired the event. 

Attendees also included officials and representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, human resources and social security, commerce, and the China International Development Cooperation Agency; officials from relevant departments, bureaus and directly affiliated units of the National Health Commission; representatives of the health commissions and departments of the 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities assigned with the task of dispatching foreign medical teams; and of relevant large public hospitals.

Chinese medical team members receive awards in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec 17, 2018. [Photo/wsjkw.cq.gov.cn]