Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Recent

A Chinese medical team has been providing free, lifesaving cardiac services to Tanzanian families while passing on medical techniques to local doctors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Mwantum Saidi is one of the beneficiaries of the partnership between China's Fuwai Yunnan Cardiovascular Hospital and Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute.

Her son, who suffered for six years with a hole in his heart and needed costly surgery to fix it, had been operated on by some of China's top cardiovascular experts.

The Chinese doctors used a noninvasive procedure that relies on accessing the heart through veins in the thigh, thereby avoiding techniques that require the chest to be opened up. The lead doctor said that such procedures can be easily integrated into the local healthcare system with the adoption of modern technology.

According to the Curative Services Department at Tanzania's Ministry of Health, China has dispatched volunteer medical teams to developing countries including Tanzania for longer terms than any other developed country.

In the last 60 years, more than 1,500 Chinese medical experts have been dispatched to Tanzania, saving more than 20 million Tanzanian lives.

Visiting doctors from China also formed educational training programs aimed at empowering local healthcare professionals with medical knowledge and techniques.

The program is expected to result in improved health outcomes in this community, and ultimately, a higher quality of life for many low-income Tanzanians.

Shotlist:
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Recent:
1. Various of family members of patients, patients in ward;
2. Various of doctors doing surgery;
3. SOUNDBITE (Swahili, dubbed with English) Mwantum Saidi, mother of child with heart disease:
"I thank the Chinese and local doctors who helped my child. I am forever indebted because my child has got a long-awaited treatment and has hope for life.";
4. Chinese doctor showcasing medical equipment;
5. Various of doctors doing surgery;
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jing Dong, cardiac interventionist, Fuwai Yunnan Cardiovascular Hospital:
"We just need an ECHO machine. It's much cheaper and has no contrast agent, no radiation harm to our nurses or medical staff.";
7. Various of Chinese doctors providing free cardiac examination for people;
8. Theophylly Ludovick, pediatrician of Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute, talking with others;
9. T-shirt with characters reading "The Belt and Road People-to-People Connectivity";
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Theophylly Ludovick, pediatrician, Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute:
"Up till now only one institute is offering these advanced procedures to children. We want other zonal hospitals also to provide the same procedure.";
11. Various of Chinese doctors providing free cardiac examination for people.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]