According to statistics from the WHO, there have been 1,711 suspected or confirmed casesof ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, of whom 932 have died.Members of a Chinese medical team are sticking to their task, risking their own lives tohelp and rescue the sick in West Africa.
"We want to do the right thing."
The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea. The very first patient was diagnosed in Conakry,the capital city of Guinea, and was treated in a China-Guinea Friendship Hospital, where alot of patients with ebola have been treated.
The Chinese government has been sending medical teams to Guinea since June 1968. Theyhave now reached team 23, with 19 members from Beijing Anzhen Hospital running a clinicfor outpatients in Conakry.
"Chinese doctors have stood by Guinea for 46 years. Ebola has taken so many our friends'lives, and honestly, we are concerned too." Medical team leader Kou Qingyu says that allthe members of the Chinese medical team are aware of the responsibilities they are facing.The team are working hard on the Ebola emergency plan and will provide more peoplewith access to information on the Ebola virus, which is in fact preventable, controllable, andconquerable.
"It is a doctor's duty to heal the wounded and comfort the dying"
The Ebola virus began to spread in Sierra Leone in May of this year. Now almost 90% ofthe ebola cases are in the two areas between Sierra Leone and Guinea, and Sierra Leoneand Liberia. Six people have been confirmed with the ebola virus in Freetown, the capitalof Sierra Leone. The 16th Chinese medical team in Sierra Leone is composed of 10members. 9 of them are doctors from hospitals in Yueyang, Hunan. All the team membersare now helping in the Kingharman Hospital of Freetown.
"All the team members are still working," said team leader Wang Yaowen. "Though theSierra Leone government has taken measures to control the virus, it is still hard to say howthe epidemic situation will evolve. As doctors, it is our duty to heal the wounded and rescuethe dying. We will stay here and stick to our jobs."
"People here all think Chinese doctors are reliable. If it had not been for the virus this year,we would have kept running free clinics in other cities," said Wang. The medical team hadspoken to overseas Chinese and China-invested enterprises in Sierra Leone and explainedhow to prevent the ebola virus.
Only Chinese doctors remain.
The Chinese government started to send medical teams to Liberia in 1984. The currentteam is the 5th since the civil war in 2005. Nine team members all from Heilongjiang arecurrently working in the capital hospital in Liberia.
Team leader Zhou Yongjun told journalists, "There used to be doctors from othercountries. But after the outbreak of the ebola virus, American doctors left in April, anddoctors from Egypt left in May. Chinese doctors are the only ones who remain."
"We will always be prepared, waiting for the end of the Ebola disaster," said Zhou.
