President bids farewell to 19th Chinese medical team after two years of service |05 July 2025

The Chinese medical team in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan and other guests

President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday received the 19th Chinese medical team at State House, as the six-member group prepare to leave Seychelles next week.

The visit was an opportunity for the outgoing team, who have completed two years of service with the Ministry of Health – under the longstanding cooperation between the governments of Seychelles and China – to meet the President before their departure.

Chief executive of the Health Care Agency (HCA), Dr Danny Louange, explained that the visit also marked 40 years since the first Chinese medical team came to Seychelles in 1985.

The outgoing team includes a cardiologist, general surgeon, orthopaedic specialist, acupuncturist, and two radiologists.

Dr Louange noted that this time, a new approach was taken to ensure a smoother handover between the outgoing and incoming medical teams.

“We were able to, together with the Chinese ambassador, address a problem that we were faced with in previous years. In former years, once the medical team left, the other team would arrive two or three weeks later, so there was a gap, and there were issues as the new team had to adapt.”

“But this time around, we have developed a new system, and we think that we will adopt this as part of our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): while the team is leaving next week, the new team is arriving tomorrow (July 5). So there is an overlap, to allow them to sort out their logistics and hand over key things relating to their specialisation,” Dr Louange stated. 

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