David Cranston, president of International Society of Minimally Invasive and Virtual Surgery (ISMIVS) addresses the ceremony. [Photo/China.org.cn]

The International Training Workshop on Ultrasound Therapy for Tumors opened at the Sandton Convention Center, Johannesburg, South Africa on September 14, 2019.

The International Training Workshop was hosted by theDepartment of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and China Science and Technology Exchange Center and co-organized by Chongqing Science and Technology Commission and Chongqing Medical University.

David Cranston, president of International Society of Minimally Invasive and Virtual Surgery (ISMIVS), Prof. Mohamed Hamed and Prof. Cherng-Jye Cheng, vice president of ISMIVS, Prof. Namory Keita, president of Society of African of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (SAGO), Prof. Steven Mankupane, acting director of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH), a representative of the organizing committee of the International Training Workshop from Chongqing Medical University, South African media and trainees attended the opening ceremony.

They extended their warm welcome to all trainees and agreed that minimally invasive and noninvasive medicine exemplified by ultrasound therapy has got global attention, and believed that this International Training Workshop led by China would certainly further academic exchanges and cooperation in focused ultrasound surgery and accelerate the dissemination and application of ultrasound therapy in Africa.

Prof. Namory Keita, president of Society of African of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (SAGO) also addresses the ceremony. [Photo/China.org.cn]

This international training workshop admitted 22 clinicians from 13 countries including South Africa, the Philippines, Tunisia, Mali, Gabon, Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Ethiopia attend the workshop where they will have a 15-day training program on focused ultrasound surgery. It is likely to accelerate the dissemination of high technology in Belt and Road countries and boost the global commercialization of ultrasound medical devices with Chinese intellectual property rights.

Since 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has been sponsoring CQMU in organizing training workshops on focused ultrasound therapy for tumors. From 2012 to 2016, the training workshop on focused ultrasound therapy for tumors for developing countries was successively organized in Chongqing for five sessions. In 2018, the workshop went abroad for the first time and was implemented in Cairo, Egypt. To date, those workshops have trained 127 clinicians and other medical professionals from 30 developing countries including Egypt, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, India, Ghana, etc.

Prof. San Juan delivers a speech on behalf of the 22 trainee doctors at the opening ceremony.Photo/China.org.cn]

In September, 2015, a focused ultrasound tumor therapeutic system from Chongqing was imported to and a HIFU treatment center was set up in CHBAH. Since then, the CHBAH has dispatched 14 medical professionals to Chongqing to learn HIFU technology, meanwhile Chongqing Medical University has sent 7 doctors and technicians to South Africa to offer on-site support. The HIFU center in CHBAH would receive 20 medical students every two months from Medical School of University of the Witwatersrand to study HIFU technology. In 2019, the HIFU center won Khanyisa service of excellence awards. At present, there are two China-innovated Focused Ultrasound Tumor Therapeutic Systems in Africa, which have treated more than 800 patients with benign or malignant tumors.

Following the theme of "China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation" proposed in the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018, the Workshop on for Tumors for Developing Countries, funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and implemented in South Africa, has boosted the dissemination of the noninvasive therapeutic technology in Africa and help improve general medical service in Africa, strengthen the China-Africa friendship.