Leung Chun-ying (left), vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong-based GX Foundation, stands with Zhang Chunlin (right), chairman of the Shanxi Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and members of the Shanxi medical aid team on Friday in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. The team served people in Djibouti in Northeast Africa with eye exams and cataract surgeries. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Thirty-nine medical workers who participated in the Cataract Blindness Elimination Project in Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa, received commemorative medals on Friday in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, from Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong-based GX Foundation.

Established in 2018, the GX Foundation focuses on providing humanitarian aid in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

"As an important project of the foundation, the Cataract Blindness Elimination Project has received strong support from Shanxi," Leung said at the presentation ceremony.

"Since the launch of the project, medical teams from Shanxi have faithfully maintained a spirit of service as they overcame many difficulties. They carried out cataract surgeries with superb skill and dedication, bringing light and hope to the local people and earning wide acclaim."

Since the launch of the project in Djibouti in February 2023, five teams comprising 39 medical workers from Shanxi have performed eye examinations for 7,741 people and performed 4,696 cataract surgeries.

The sixth and seventh medical teams plan to carry out similar work starting in September and concluding in January next year.

Leung Chun-ying, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong-based GX Foundation, presents a commemorative medal to a member of the Shanxi medical aid team on Friday in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. The team served people in Djibouti in southern Africa. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Liu Jiewei, chief of the Cataract Department at Shanxi Eye Hospital, expressed his delight in wining the commemorative medals.

"As the leader of the second medical team, I completed more than 1,200 surgeries in 50 days in Djibouti," he said. "The happiness and gratitude of patients after the surgeries deepened our appreciation of ophthalmologists."

Tang Dengjie, Party secretary of Shanxi, said that because the aid project in Djibouti had achieved such wonderful results in recent years, the long-standing and promising relationship between Shanxi and Hong Kong had been reinforced.

"I hope to promote Shanxi in Hong Kong in various sectors – for example, providing more support for enhancing cultural exchanges, making economic and trade relations closer and deepening industrial cooperation between the two regions for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes," Tang said. "We will continue to expand cooperation projects, and provide high-quality services for the people of Hong Kong to invest and engage in business and tourism in Shanxi."

Also on Friday, the GX Foundation and the Shanxi Health Commission held a working meeting to deepen exchanges between the two regions on such topics as the promotion of traditional Chinese medicine in Djibouti.

"Leveraging the resource advantages of the foundation, we will establish regular coordination mechanisms," said Zhang Bo, director of the commission.

Zhang said that international standards, advanced management practices and specialized technologies from Hong Kong will be introduced in Shanxi, and that medical and management staff members from Shanxi will be sent to Hong Kong for further education, short-term exchanges and remote training. In addition, specialized hospitals such as oncology and cardiology will be established.

Meanwhile, collaboration on the research, development and promotion of TCM – as well as scientific research and technology transfers between the two regions – will be strengthened, Zhang said.