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The 100th Peking University Medical Humanities Forum: Narrative medicine and foreign aid medical cause

   The 100th Peking University Medical Humanities Forum was held on the Tencent conference line on June 18, 2022. Professor Guo Wei, the leader of China's 29th medical team to Guinea, the chief physician of the emergency department, and the deputy director of the emergency medicine department of Capital Medical University, delivered a lecture entitled "Narrative medicine and foreign aid medical cause". The lecture was hosted by Professor Guo Liping, the deputy dean of the School of Health Humanities of Peking University, and nearly 80 listeners from different universities and hospitals attended the lecture.

 

   The lecture is divided into three parts: a brief history of China's aid to Africa, a general situation of Guinea, and the practice of narrative medicine in aid to Africa.

 

   Professor Guo Wei first reviewed the history of China's aid to Africa: China sent the first medical team to Algeria in 1963; Beijing sent the first batch of medical teams in 1968. So far, it has sent 53 batches of medical teams to 11 countries and regions in Africa; The medical team overcame many difficulties and provided medical services to the local people. The 29th batch of medical teams arrived in Guinea in March this year.

    

  

  

    

   Professor Guo Wei then introduced Guinea's rich natural resources, geographical characteristics, climate characteristics, administrative divisions, historical changes, medical system, etc. He particularly elaborated on the Guinean people's view of life and death, and explained why the local people opposed "life extension treatment" from the perspective of religion and culture.

 

   In the third part, Professor Guo Wei introduced the daily work flow of the medical team, the language barriers to overcome, the good deeds carried out and the achievements achieved. He told the story of the medical team's treatment and rescue in vivid language, especially introduced the treatment stories of African deaf and dumb boys, African gunshot patients, Chinese infected with typhoid fever, Chinese suffering from myocardial infarction and other patients in detail. Professor Guo Wei said: The medical team bears a huge risk of COVID-19 infection, and the limitations of external conditions make medical operation much more difficult than in China; However, the medical team did not forget its original intention, kept in mind the mission of treating the sick and saving the people, and promoting the development of local medical cause. It started from scratch, faced difficulties and overcame difficulties in all aspects bit by bit.

 

   Through these stories, Professor Guo Wei conveyed his own personal experience: sophisticated technology may not be useful in the environment of lack of medical resources. Under this special condition, the medical team relies on solid basic skills, solid clinical experience, and gives patients high attention, full communication, strong psychological comfort, while trying to solve the problem a little bit. In this process, Chinese doctors and patients have formed a very good doctor-patient relationship. They have a deep feeling that there is no boundary between doctors and patients. They should be an alliance of unity, cooperation, common support and common development; Narrative medicine has more soil and basic conditions to take root in Guinea or underdeveloped areas.

 

   The medical aid cases shared by Professor Guo Wei provide an important reference for the study of the overseas acceptance and participation of China's narrative medicine practice, and provide detailed information and data support for the academic community to further explore the value of narrative medicine in foreign aid medical cause.