THE 21st Chinese medical team aims to expand Guyana and China’s medical partnership, with plans to launch a telemedicine network to link hinterland health facilities to Chinese specialists.

This was according to leader of the medical team Dr Huan song Li in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

With the arrival of the new team, the leader said that the Chinese medical team aims to provide a higher level of China-Guyana co-operation.

Dr Huan said that the team aims to continue introducing minimally invasive surgeries in hepatobiliary, including performing liver resection using fluorescence laparoscope with fluorescence guidance, gynaecology, even in orthopaedics and anaesthetic depth monitoring to make  patients safer during operations.

“We’ll also launch a ‘teleconsultation pilot’ linking hinterland clinics to our specialists for timely advice… jointly establishing a regional training centre for healthcare workers, sharing both Chinese and Guyanese clinical experiences,” he said.

The team leader also said that there will be collaboration on telemedicine networks or remote medical network to connect Guyana with China’s top hospitals to provide diagnosis and treatment for complex cases, enhancing the accessibility of high-end medical services.

The Guyana-China partnership began in the early 1990s when the first Chinese Medical Brigade supported Guyana by not only providing medical supplies, but also carrying out critical outreaches across the country.

Since then, several brigades have served in Guyana, contributing to various areas at the GPHC, the Linden Public Hospital and other public healthcare facilities nationwide.

Today, the partnership continues to flourish, with recent donations such as US$50,000 worth of advanced ophthalmology equipment and a 4K Fluorescence Laparoscopy Surgical System, which improves precision in minimally invasive surgeries at the institution.

This growth in co-operation was further solidified with the launch of the International Medical Training Partnership between the Ministry of Health and the Jiangsu Commission of Health.

Through this programme, seven doctors, five from the GPHC and two from the West Demerara Regional Hospital, are in China undergoing training through the China-Guyana Specialist (Jiangsu) Training Programme, which aims to enhance their clinical skills while giving them exposure to advanced technologies.