A Chinese-Operated Hospital in Namibia

By Bi Tian

Wang Jun is from a family of traditional Chinese medicine doctors from Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province. He learned acupuncture from his grandfather. After graduation from Shanghai Medical University in 2004, he worked as a doctor in a hospital in Shanghai. He quit after he exposed a case of bribery in the hospital and found he was unable to work normally because of the difficulties deliberately created against him. He felt hopeless when his brother-in-law called him from Africa. A trader, the brother-in-law asked him to come to Africa, saying he needed someone who he could trust and could help him, and what was more, it was relatively easier to make money there.

The 24-year-old Wang Jun flew to Namibia, a kingdom of diamond in southwestern Africa. The country is larger than Britain and Germany put together, but has a population of 2.3 million. Even Wangs hometown Hefei has a larger population. The country produces diamond and uranium. And it is extremely beautiful with its exotic fauna and flora. However, Wang Jun found by accident that local hospitals were really nothing to write home about. One day he went to see a friend in a local hospital. Walking into the hospital, he was flabbergasted by the poor conditions there. The wards were sultry without air-conditioning; flies swarmed; the rooms stank overwhelmingly. With his experience as a doctor, he realized how badly the hospital was managed. Later he learned that local people had great difficulty seeking medical help.

Wang Jun had an idea: why not open a private clinic to help the local people? In early 2004, his private clinic at Whale Bay opened to the general public. The clinic was warmly welcomed. Wang Jun enjoyed one thing to his advantage: Chinese doctors have been in Africa for decades and have enjoyed a fine reputation there. So when his clinic opened, people came and took a look. They were impressed by the cleanness of the clinic. Patients came. Some were very poor. Some were diamond tycoons.

What makes Wang Jun stands out is that he is a doctor with TCM knowledge and skills. He uses acupuncture and cupping, a treatment in which evacuated cups are applied to the skin to draw blood through the surface.

His first patient was a woman afflicted by rheumatism. Western medicine had failed to help her. Sometimes her pain was so much that she could hardly walk. She came to see whether the Chinese clinic could help her. Wang Jun examined her knees and decided to try acupuncture and cupping. After a 30-minute treatment, the patient felt very comfortable. Her husband asked if it was witchcraft. Wang Jun smiled and explained how the Chinese therapy worked. With the treatment, the patient gradually got well.

One day, a diamond tycoon came to Wangs clinic for medical help. He had nervous headache. He had visited hospitals in American and South Africa in vain. After more than 10 treatments at Wangs clinic, his headache disappeared.

His brother-in-law now advised him to start a hospital so that his patients could receive better and timely treatment without waiting for too long. Local authorities encouraged Wang to expand his medical practice. So in the spring of 2006, a private Chinese hospital came into being in Whale Bay. The 800-m2 hospital has a full range of equipment and instruments and has essential departments such internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, gynecology, and stomatology. The wards were like rooms in hotel.

Wang and his doctors have created many medical wonders in Namibia. They use acupuncture to help operation on appendicitis. A partially paralyzed patient was able to walk after the acupuncture treatment.

Wang himself helped a girl named Lisa to recover her ability to speak. Lisa had a head injury in a serious car accident in October 2008 and lost her ability to speak. She came from a hospital in the capital to Wangs hospital for help. Wang applied acupuncture. A few days later, she miraculously recovered from aphasia. Her parents were amazed. The parents and the daughter hugged and wept and laughed.

That evening, Lisa invited Wang to take a walk with her. It was a pleasant stroll and pleasant evening. A month later, Lisa came back to Whale Bay and asked Wang if he would be her boyfriend. They began to date.

Wangs hospital is very successful. Nowadays, some patients come from neighboring Angola, Botswana and South Africa. The hospital regularly distributes medicine free of charge to help locals prevent battle malaria and amebic dysentery. Wang Jun has met with the President and the Health Minister and other high-ranking officials of the country.

He came back to visit his family in Hefei in early August, 2009. He said that he would come back home and marry Lisa in the upcoming Spring Festival in 2010. □