By Zhang Jianhua
VIENTIANE, Nov. 19 -- Members of a medical expert team dispatched by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to Laos have been awarded medals by the Lao People's Army. The medal-awarding ceremony was held in Vientiane, the capital of Laos on November 16.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Laos, the Chinese medical expert team was awarded the Class III Medal of Valor and the Medal of Friendship for its outstanding contributions to the development of the Military Hospital 103 of the Lao People's Army during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chinese medical experts devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the patients’ treatment and personnel training of medical technologies in Laos, helped improve the diagnosis, treatment and nursing level of the Lao Military Hospital 103, said Lao Defense Minister General Chansamone Chanyalath, who is also member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and deputy prime minister, in a document signed by him on awarding medals to the Chinese military medical team.
Wang Wen, leader of the Chinese military medical team, expressed his gratitude to the Lao Ministry of National Defense for recognizing their work. They would continue to carry forward the fine traditions of the Chinese medical teams in Laos and spare no effort to provide assistance for protecting the health of the Lao service members and people, said Wang.
The Lao Military Hospital 103 is a comprehensive hospital with assistance from the Chinese Ministry of National Defense. Since 2019, the Chinese PLA has continuously dispatched medical teams to the hospital, where the Chinese military medical experts carried out a series of medical-aid activities such as clinical teaching, academic exchanges, popular science lectures, and free medical consultations. They also helped the doctors of the hospital complete a number of major difficult surgery operations, setting multiple "firsts" in the history of Lao medicine.
