A team of medical experts from China is happy to be in the country and looking forward to starting work at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital for the next six months.

The team from Jilin China was recently released from quarantine and will be starting their work next week at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital.

The team consists of eight members: Wang Tiejun (Traumatic Orthopedics), Liu Xiaoxia (Gynecologist), Yu Zhi (ENT), Hu Jinghai (Urologist), Sun Mo (Pathologist), Wang Baogang (Cardiologist), Huang Shuo (Neurologist) and Ding Lili (Critical Medicine). They are all from the First Bethune Hospital of Jilin University.

Sino-Samoa medical cooperation dates back to the 1980s, when the Chinese Government began sending medical teams to Samoa to provide medical services.

To date, 125 medical professionals and 18 Medical Teams have worked in Samoan hospitals.

The team's leader, Dr. Wang Tiejun, told the Samoa Observer in an interview on Friday morning that they are eager to start work at the hospital and dedicate themselves to saving lives.

"We all eager to go to work and help Samoan people," he said.

"Since [the] 1980s when the Chinese government begin sending medical volunteers to start a medical service in Samoa, a total of more than 100 medical experts has worked in Samoa so we are very look forward to the friendly between the Samoan people and the Chinese people," he said.

He said that the Government of Samoa has effectively prevented COVID-19 from entering the country and carrying out treatments, similar to China.

E.N.T. specialist Yu Zhi told the Samoa Observer that they had recently talked to the Director-General of the Ministry of Health (M.O.H), Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, on various health topics as diet is the root cause of cardiology disease, diabetes, and urology diseases.

He saidthat the Director-General that he hopes that the team's work can elevate the hospital's medical and surgical performance, and reduce Samoa's reliance on external countries. 

Asked if they would like to stay in Samoa for more than six months, Dr. Wang stated that it is based on the demands of the Samoan people and the Chinese Government, but as they are all volunteers, they want to help more Samoan people.