Tunisia gives award to Chinese medical mission

TUNIS -- On the occasion of the end of the 25th Chinese medical mission in Tunisia, an official ceremony took place on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Tunisian health ministry in Tunis.

The ceremony was co-chaired by Tunisian Minister of Health Ali Mrabet and China's Ambassador to Tunisia Zhang Jianguo.

During his speech, Mrabet expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for its support and assistance to Tunisia.

"I would like to thank you for your sense of responsibility and your commitment to this noble mission of caring for our citizens," Mrabet said.

On the occasion, the Tunisian health minister gave the award of thanks in honor of the members of the Chinese medical mission, which was made up of 38 doctors and paramedical staff.

For his part, the Chinese ambassador said that "over the past 12 months, the Chinese medical mission has provided 30,000 consultation services and participated in 500 emergency consultations, performed 1,500 surgeries and treated 18,000 local patients infected with COVID-19," adding that 5,200 Chinese acupuncture treatments have been performed and 15 Tunisian acupuncturists have been trained by Chinese doctors.

"China has always defended the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity," Zhang said.

According to Zhang, the Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024) which has been adopted at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Senegal, emphasizes that China and African countries will continue to intensify health exchanges at different levels to build a China-Africa health community.

China dispatched the first medical mission to Tunisia in 1973, and since then, more than 1,100 Chinese doctors have been sent to Tunisia to help the country in the fields including general surgery, obstetrics, radiography, pediatrics, orthopedics, cardiology and acupuncture.