A 30-strong medical team on Saturday left Lanzhou, capital of
northwest China's Gansu Province, for a two-year mission in
Madagascar.
It is China's 16th medical detachment to the east African
country since 1975.
Zhong Liangting, leader of the team and three-time veteran of
Madagascar, said the members were chosen from medical organizations
across Gansu, and included specialists in internal medicine,
surgery, orthopaedics and gynecology.
The team would provide services to local people in four
hospitals.
Gansu has sent 444 medical workers to work in Madagascar in the
past 31 years, of whom 51 have been awarded national honors by
Madagascar.
China has sent a total of 15,000 medical personnel to 47 African
nations and regions since the dispatch of its first medical team to
Algeria in 1963, according to the Foreign Ministry.
About 950 Chinese medical staff are currently working in 36
African nations.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)