Chinese medical team kicks off mission to help Palestine's anti-coronavirus fight

Chinese medical team members attend a meeting with Palestinian health officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on June 11, 2020. The visiting Chinese medical experts on Thursday began meeting with Palestinian health officials and counterparts, kicking off their mission to assist the Palestinian fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Ayman Nobani/Xinhua)

RAMALLAH, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The visiting Chinese medical experts on Thursday began meeting with Palestinian health officials and counterparts, kicking off their mission to assist the Palestinian fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

A meeting was held by the Chinese team at the Palestinian Ministry of Health with Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila.

After that, the Chinese experts joined a panel discussion for four hours, during which they listened to a presentation by the ministry's preventive medicine and public health departments in to explain the pandemic situation in Palestine.

So far, there were 665 cases confirmed in Palestine, including five deaths and a recovery rate of nearly 88 percent.

Osama Najjar, head of the Palestinian Health Ministry's paramedics unit, told Xinhua ahead of the discussion that it would focus on sharing the Palestinian side's information and listening to the Chinese experts' experiences in containing the coronavirus.

"It will focus on the lab tests problems, the taking of samples, the treatment regime that we follow here in quarantines and hospitals, and what they do with their patients, especially the patients who have other diseases," Najjar said.

The Chinese experts would also share their experiences of treating the coronavirus patients in their hospitals, labs and epidemiological centers, he said.

Hu Peng, head of the Chinese team, said that his team was interested in the "comprehensive recovery and the treatment and diagnosis of the COVID-19 all over Palestine," as positive results have been achieved by the Palestinian medical staff.

"I shall avail this opportunity to have an in-depth exchange of views with the medical institutions together with the medical staff to learn how this success was reached," he added.

The team, which was put together by China's National Health Commission, includes experts from various departments such as respiratory and infectious diseases, traditional Chinese medicine, epidemiology and nursing.

The Chinese experts are scheduled to hold a series of meetings and pay visits to quarantine and treatment centers in the West Bank until June 17.