Jiangsu Province Hospital, also known as The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, is holding a training workshop in Nanjing for African medical professionals from July 25 to August 2.

The training program is part of a cooperation initiative for Chinese hospitals to pair up with 30 African hospitals, announced by China at the 73rd World Health Assembly in 2020.

16 participants from two hospitals in Zanzibar and one Egyptian hospital are undergoing the 10-day training, with some participants extending their study up to 90 days. The core curriculum includes comprehensive emergency treatment and super-minimally invasive endoscopic surgery within the digestive system.

(Photo credit: Jiangsu Province Hospital)

This training comes as 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of China sending its first international medical aid team as well as the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Jiangsu has been dispatching medical teams to Zanzibar since 1964, with 60 individuals from Jiangsu Province Hospital participating in the program over the decades. Professor Dai Chuanxiao, member of Jiangsu's first medical team to Zanzibar, performed the first limb replantation surgery in the region.

According to Professor Fan Zhining, chief physician of the Digestive Endoscopy Department of the hospital, China has significantly improved its medical technology in recent years, with the super-minimally invasive surgery now leading the world. "Jiangsu has shared not only its medical techniques but also many of its medical products with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative," Fan added.