Chinese medical team helps build "anti-epidemic shield" for cooperation projects in Laos

VIENTIANE, May 8 (Xinhua) -- After arriving in Laos on Tuesday, the medical expert team sent by the Chinese government has coordinated with the Lao side to fully carry out its job to join the fight against COVID-19 here, and has also helped build an "anti-epidemic shield" for cooperation projects and for the Chinese people in Laos.

The Chinese medical expert team has been to the Lao Ministry of Health to participate in the regular epidemic prevention and control meetings and on-site working conferences since the second day after its arrival, and has been going to the designated hospitals and temporary hospitals for treating COVID-19 infected cases, quarantine centers, virus sampling sites, laboratories, and border check points in Laos, to exchange views and experience with the Lao colleagues and to provide suggestions and training courses to the Lao side, as well as directing the Chinese people and enterprises engaged in cooperation projects to handle the epidemic prevention and control, and reassure the infected Chinese compatriots.

Wang Jiankun, the Chinese expert team leader has been leading his team to inspect the China-Laos railway construction sites and the Vientiane Saysettha Development Zone where lots of Chinese companies gather.

Wang's team has presented guidance on epidemic prevention and control, looked into the epidemic precaution work in the canteens, staff dormitories, construction sites, etc., exchanged with the development zone and the Chinese railway engineering companies' epidemic prevention and control personnel and conducted on-site training, introduced the professional knowledge and working methods on COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, answered questions about the daily work of epidemic prevention, and even conducted detailed on-site demonstrations of proper ways to put on or take off the masks and to wash the hands.

Huang Hong, the general representative of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) in the construction of China-Laos railway, told Xinhua on Saturday that "the scientific guidance from the Chinese government's anti-epidemic medical expert team to Laos has strengthened our 'shield' against the virus, which brings us, the Chinese participating engineering companies on the China-Laos railway, fewer worries about the virus, but more confidence in overcoming the epidemic and completing the construction task on schedule."

During their inspection tours to the hospitals, when encountering infected Chinese patients, the Chinese experts would check the situation and cheer them.

The Chinese experts might also gifted some traditional herbal medicines to the Chinese patients, bringing them their familiar taste and smell, hopes of recovery and cares from the motherland.

A Chinese patient told the Chinese doctors that their arrival has increased his confidence in overcoming the disease, while "feeling at ease when seeing you."

On Friday evening, the Chinese expert team received a piece of urgent message from the hospital: A Chinese citizen who was hospitalized and diagnosed as COVID-19 infected case on Wednesday had not eaten for two days, and was suffering from aches, fever, and blurred vision.

"Our medical staff rushed to the hospital on the evening of May 7 to join the Lao colleagues to treat the Chinese compatriot," Yang Xiaohua, a member of the expert team from the First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, participating in the treatment that day, told Xinhua on Saturday, "I am feeling more sense of responsibility, mission and achievement when treating compatriots in a foreign country, and it is more gratifying to be able to do the job well here."

The team of Chinese medical experts, along with medical materials, arrived in Lao capital Vientiane on Tuesday to assist Laos in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The medical team includes experts in infection prevention and control, intensive care, epidemics, and laboratory testing, along with medical supplies, including COVID-19 testing kits, protective clothing, and face masks among others.

Laos has been seeing a surge of COVID-19 infections recently. The Chinese medical team will help the Lao side in upgrading the precaution and treatment scheme, improving the technical level and response capabilities, studying the trend of the COVID-19 epidemic and making corresponding recommendations.