STORY: Chinese medical team helps Ghanaian hospital improve radiology services
SHOOTING TIME: March 4, 2024
DATELINE: March 6, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:22
LOCATION: Accra
CATEGORY: HEALTH

SHOTLIST:
1. various of doctors operating radiology equipment
2. various of patients
3. various of Du Yushan, the team's leader, examining a patient imaging
4. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): DU YUSHAN, Leader of 12th batch of the Chinese medical team in Ghana
5. various of a doctor taking patient imaging
6. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): DENNIS AMARTEY AHIA, Deputy chief radiographer at LEKMA Hospital
7. various of patients at the hospital (file)

STORYLINE:

The 12th batch of the Chinese medical team in Ghana has helped a Ghanaian hospital improve its radiology services over the past year, benefiting thousands of local patients.

LEKMA Hospital, a general hospital where the Chinese medical team is based, has been lacking radiology equipment and techniques for years, posing a challenge to disease diagnosis, Du Yushan, the team's leader, told Xinhua in an interview on Monday.

"The whole hospital has only one X-ray machine, but that does not mean we should lower the standard. Instead, we have successfully made use of the machine to expand medical examinations such as the esophagus checkup," said Du, who is also a radiologist.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): DU YUSHAN, Leader of 12th batch of the Chinese medical team in Ghana
"We helped the hospital establish an effective system of filing radiology reports to better describe patients' conditions, allowing for more accurate disease diagnoses."

Dennis Amartey Ahia, the deputy chief radiographer at the hospital, said the hospital has been fortunate over the years that every batch of the Chinese medical team has had a radiologist among the doctors to provide this critical intervention for patients.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): DENNIS AMARTEY AHIA, Deputy chief radiographer at LEKMA Hospital
"Generally in the whole country, in Ghana, we have very few radiologists. So currently, as we sit here in LEKMA Hospital, we do not have any local radiologists, any in-house radiologists. So this kind of collaboration, this exchange, has been very helpful to us over the past eight years."

Ahia said the support from the Chinese medical team has also brought economic benefits to the locals, who can access services at the hospital at subsidized rates, helping them save money.

The current Chinese medical team, which comprises 11 medical specialists in various fields from south China's Guangdong Province, will wrap up their year-long mission in late March.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Accra.
(XHTV)