On April 8, as the plane landed smoothly at Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport, Wan Zhanhai, Chief Physician of the Department of Anesthesiology & OR, and Tie Bin, Deputy Chief Physician of the Department of Interventional Medicine – both from the First Hospital of Lanzhou University (LZUFH) – members of the Seventh Chinese Red Cross Medical Team to Burkina Faso, successfully completed their one-year overseas medical mission and returned safely to Gansu Province. Feng Lianbao, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Full-time Vice President of the Red Cross Society of China Gansu Branch, Liu Yatao, Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, along with family members of the medical team, were present at the airport to welcome them.
On April 9, 2025, Wan Zhanhai and Tie Bin, carrying the hospital's trust and their families' concerns, traveled to Centre hospitalier universitaire de Tengandogo à Ouagadougou in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to begin their one-year overseas medical mission. In Burkina Faso, medical resources are extremely scarce, the risks of surgical anesthesia are very high, and the field of interventional medicine is almost non-existent.
Wan Zhanhai: Anesthesia is Not Just a Technique, But the Sowing of an Idea
Facing the relatively outdated hospital equipment and the complexity of surgical cases, Wan Zhanhai, as an anesthesiology expert, not only provided solid anesthesia support for high-risk diagnostic and treatment procedures such as cardiac surgery and interventional surgery, but also proactively integrated advanced and standardized anesthesia concepts into local medical practice, bringing China's mature humanized anesthesia service model to Africa.
Through hands-on training of local doctors, he standardized procedures step by step – from difficult airway management to perioperative monitoring – helping to establish a safer anesthesia management system. To enhance the department's emergency response capacity, he personally invested over 2 million West African CFA francs to purchase difficult airway light wands, donated professional textbooks and medical supplies, and also funded the purchase of postoperative anticoagulant medications for children in need with congenital heart disease. His colleagues in Burkina Faso said that what he brought was not just technique, but also an attitude of reverence for life.
Tie Bin: Starting from Scratch, Filling the Gap in Interventional Medicine
For Tie Bin, Deputy Chief Physician of the Department of Interventional Medicine, the challenge over the past year was particularly daunting. Burkina Faso had no interventional physicians nationwide, nor the necessary supporting instruments and consumables – interventional medicine was a blank slate. After arriving, he immediately communicated with various clinical departments, procured instruments, calibrated equipment, and established surgical procedures.
In his second month on site, he successfully performed the first cerebral angiography in Burkina Faso's history. Later, addressing the region's high prevalence of hepatitis B and liver cancer but lack of advanced treatment options, Tie Bin coordinated the organization of remote video academic exchanges between Centre hospitalier universitaire de Tengandogo à Ouagadougou and liver disease experts at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, introducing China's mature multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment (MDT) model for liver cancer to Burkina Faso. He shared advanced concepts and extensive experience from China in surgery, interventional radiology, and targeted therapy, and completed the country's first targeted therapy combined with interventional HAIC sequential TACE treatment for liver cancer, bringing new hope to liver cancer patients. Additionally, he achieved breakthroughs in areas such as gynecological uterine fibroids and intracranial vascular embolization treatment, significantly enhancing the interventional radiology capabilities of the host hospital.
Shared Spirit: The Chinese Medical Team Ethos
The outstanding performance of Wan Zhanhai and Tie Bin is emblematic of the entire Gansu medical team abroad. Over the past year, they not only coped with scorching heat, high temperatures, and the high risk of infectious diseases, but also made multiple forays into villages, welfare homes, and Chinese enterprises to conduct mobile medical services and free clinics. Statistics show that during their work at Centre hospitalier universitaire de Tengandogo à Ouagadougou, the Seventh Batch of the Gansu Provincial Medical Team to Burkina Faso completed 70 cardiac surgeries. With their superb medical skills and noble ethics, they won wide acclaim from local people and medical staff, vividly embodying the spirit of the Chinese medical team: "Defying hardships, devoting selflessly, saving lives, loving boundlessly."
Over the years, the First Hospital of Lanzhou University has dispatched 23 groups of highly skilled and experienced medical personnel for overseas missions. These team members have consistently maintained a high sense of responsibility and mission, fulfilling their duties as "Medical Envoys in White" and making positive contributions to strengthening the friendly and cooperative relationship between China and Africa through their excellent skills and sincere dedication.
Edited by the Office of Foreign Affairs
