KINSHASA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese medical teams have helped improve health care for people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), DRC Deputy Health Minister Serge Emmanuel Holenn said on Tuesday.

       Holenn made the remarks at the reception ceremony held in the capital of Kinshasa to welcome the newly-arrived 22nd batch of the Chinese medical team, and to bid farewell to the 21st medical team which will soon complete its mission.

       On behalf of the Congolese government, Holenn expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Chinese side for dispatching medical teams to the DRC for more than 50 years, while highlighting the fruitful and time-honored health cooperation between the two countries. In recent years, the Chinese medical teams have overcome challenges such as Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic, and have helped protect the health of thousands of families in the DRC.

       The 21 members of the 21st batch of the Chinese medical team have worked in the DRC for one year, stationed at the Sino-Congolese Friendship Hospital in Kinshasa and the Haut-Katanga General Reference Hospital in Lubumbashi.

       Since China sent the first medical team to the DRC (then known as Zaire) in 1973, the team members have consistently rotated. Over the years, nearly 600 Chinese medical personnel have conducted hundreds of thousands of medical consultations and performed numerous surgeries to serve the Congolese people.