BEIJING: For Li Jun, vice-president of the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, fighting Covid-19 was a war on two fronts.
In April 2020, after battling an epidemic in his home province, Li led a team of medical experts to Malaysia to share Chinese health workers’ firsthand experience in tackling the novel coronavirus.
Scientists and health workers sharing their data and knowledge is one of China’s key methods of contributing to the global efforts against Covid-19.
China has dispatched 37 expert teams to 34 countries over the past three years, according to the National Health Commission.
“There is a Malaysian proverb that goes, ‘Bukit sama didaki, lurah sama dituruni’, which translates into, ‘Climb the hill together, traverse the ravine together’,” Li said.
“China and Malaysia share a traditional friendship.
“We felt a strong duty to share our knowledge and help our Malaysian peers control Covid-19 in their home country.”
Li’s team presented their insights into treatment and diagnosis plans, hygiene and healthcare for discharged patients and psychological counselling for those infected and their families.
“We wanted to help the Malaysian people combat Covid-19 and help them return to normalcy as soon as possible,” Li said.
Chinese experts were similarly offering assistance in Iran, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, the Philippines and Peru, as well as countries in Africa, a feat that embodied the vision of building a global community of health for all, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Wang Xiaotao, former director of China International Development Cooperation Agency, said that many countries had donated valuable supplies to China when it was hit hard, and it was heartwarming for China to return the favour.
“Even when facing a serious Covid-19 situation at home, China promptly launched an emergency humanitarian aid effort, the largest of its kind since the nation’s founding,” Wang wrote in an article in Foreign Affairs Journal, which is published by the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs.
“The Covid-19 pandemic recognises no borders and ethnicities. It is a common enemy of humanity and can only be overcome with solidarity and collaboration,” Wang wrote.
“China will never stand aloof from a friend in need, nor will it attach conditions for selfish gains when extending a helping hand.”
Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission, said in a recent news briefing that China had promptly shared vital information with the world, and that served as the scientific basis for developing vaccines and diagnosis tools.
These vital pieces of information included confirming the pathogen was a novel coronavirus, sharing the genome sequence of the virus and publishing China’s treatment and prevention plans, he said. — China Daily/ANN
