China sends 8th medical team to Malawi

The eighth Chinese medical team to Malawi left China for Malawi on September 26th, 2020. On September 22, a farewell party was held for the team at the Shaanxi Provincial Health Commission in Xi'an.

The 17 members of the team came from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital and other hospitals.

The team was led by Li Xiaogang, deputy chief physician of the First Hospital Anesthesiology Department, and included specialists in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and anesthesiology.

The team arrived in Malawi on a chartered plane along with a batch of anti-epidemic supplies on September 27, 2022 (Project 92591). They were to be based out of the city of Mzuzu. An advance team arrived in Mzuzu on October 26th, with the rest of the team scheduled to follow on October 30th. The team's mission to Malawi was intended to last one year, with the team to depart at the end of September 2021.

However, the rise of a new variant caused the team to stay an additional two months. The eighth team departed after the arrival of the ninth team on November 14th.

The Chinese Government, and Shaanxi Province specifically, have previously sent medical teams to Malawi, as captured in projects 57900, 57899, 58016, 58015, 35021, 23346 and 35417.