On October 17, Ms. Judith Ssambaarela, Consul General of the Republic of Uganda in Guangzhou, led a delegation to visit our hospital. Chen Ying, Director of the Foreign Cooperation Division of the Sichuan Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Chen Qiu, Vice President of our hospital, attended the symposium.

During the symposium, Chen Qiu extended a warm welcome to the Consul General and her delegation. He reviewed the extensive cooperation between Sichuan's traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sector and African countries under the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years, particularly the achievements in promoting TCM culture dissemination and talent cultivation in countries such as South Africa, Zambia, and Tanzania.

Chen Qiu noted that this visit by the Consul General presents an important opportunity to deepen cooperation between Sichuan and Uganda in the field of TCM. He expressed hope for further expanding collaboration in areas such as TCM education, clinical medicine, and scientific research and innovation. Ms. Ssambaarela expressed her deep admiration for the profoundness of TCM and shared her positive personal and family experiences with acupuncture treatment. She specifically mentioned that Uganda, as a participant in the Belt and Road Initiative, places great importance on cooperation in the health sector. She expressed hope to learn from China's successful experience in integrating traditional medicine with modern healthcare systems to promote the development and innovation of traditional Ugandan medicine.

Chen Ying provided an overview of the development of TCM in Sichuan, highlighting that Sichuan ranks among the top in the country in terms of the number of TCM hospitals, the scale of diagnosis and treatment, medicinal resources, and industrial systems. She proposed practical cooperation with Uganda in areas such as TCM talent cultivation, scientific research collaboration, medicinal resource development, and the broader health industry, with the aim of jointly promoting the localized development of TCM in Africa.

Following the symposium, Consul General Ms. Ssambaarela and her delegation visited the Preventive Treatment Center to gain a detailed understanding of the clinical applications and scientific research progress of acupuncture and other characteristic TCM therapies.