International

Chinese medical care safeguards Barbadians’ well-being

Chinese medics are very enthusiastic and serious about their work, and always work closely with their local colleagues in Barbados, said Anthony Harris, director of medical services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados.– “The long-term Chinese medical team is really unique to our hospital,” said Anthony Harris, director of medical services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, expressing his gratitude for the contribution of the Chinese medical team in the country.

As a surgeon who had witnessed Chinese doctors’ treatment in the operating room, Harris said Chinese medics are very enthusiastic and serious about their work, and always work closely with their local colleagues in Barbados.

Since December 2016, the hospital, being the largest and highest-level public general hospital in Barbados and holding a prominent position as a leading medical center in the Caribbean, has benefited from the expertise of five batches of Chinese foreign aid medical teams dispatched by Chongqing Municipality in southwest China. These dedicated teams have effectively brought Chinese medical services to the Caribbean island country.

He Ping, the chief surgeon of the trauma department at the Chongqing Emergency Medical Center and a member of the third Chinese medical team to Barbados, conducts a surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados, July 31, 2019. (Xinhua)

Among the dedicated members of the Chinese medical team was He Ping, the chief surgeon of the trauma department at the Chongqing Emergency Medical Center. He joined the third Chinese medical team to Barbados, arriving in the country in July 2018 and returning to China in September 2019.

During his stay in Barbados, he always worked on the front line in the operating and emergency rooms, participating in 96 emergency operations and saving 19 critically ill patients.

“We had some challenges with our human resources as it relates to delivering care at the hospital,” said Chaynie Williams, one of the medical staff at the hospital. “(Chinese medical teams) have contributed tremendously to sustaining and maintaining our services.”

Almost every Chinese doctor and nurse on the medical team to Barbados taught their skills to local colleagues.

At the end of 2020, Liu Dan, an anesthetist at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University came to Barbados for medical aid. She gained many local “students” shortly after demonstrating her technical advantages.

Some of the interns and the experienced consultant doctors at the hospital even needed to book an appointment to see her demonstration.

Medical staff members work at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados, June 1, 2023. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)

“Traditional Chinese medicine also was gaining popularity with the local residents. And it’s something that we want to also have as part of our holistic patient-centered care at the hospital,” Williams said.

According to Deng Li, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Health Commission, the Chinese medical teams in Barbados have treated more than 38,000 clinical cases, and China has also sent experts to Barbados on a short-term basis to carry out knee replacement and other operations free of charge to solve local medical technical problems.

The advanced medical technology displayed by the Chinese medical teams has attracted seven Barbadian doctors to study at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.

“Through individual instruction, their professional theory and technical operation ability have been greatly improved, which has laid a solid foundation for them to carry out the medical techniques after returning to Barbados,” said Xu Ping, party chief of the Chinese hospital. (PR)

International

10 % ON EXPORTS TO US

US President Donald Trump says it’s Liberation Day in America as he announced his sweeping new tariffs. The new measures took effect at midnight. Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed several of the measures.

US President Donald Trump has announced a 10 percent universal tariff on all imports into the country. This includes Barbadian exports to the American market. According to Mr. Trump, the tariff is in retaliation for the 10 per cent tariff now charged by Jamaica on U.S. imports.

The tariff means American consumers are likely to see an increase in the price of Jamaican goods sold on the U.S. market.

St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize, Suriname, St. Kitts and Antigua are among the Caribbean countries that will also see a 10% tariff applied to their exports.

Nearly 60 countries across the world have been hit with tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to as high as 49 per cent. China, countries in the European Union, Taiwan and Vietnam are among the hardest hit. It’s one of the most sweeping impositions of tariffs in U.S. history.

Trump says the tariffs are aimed at protecting American markets from unfair global trade practices. He’s projecting a resurgence in American manufacturing as a result of the sweeping tariffs.

International

China’s Xi Jinping tells top global CEOs to use their influence to defend trade

Gathering of senior business leaders in Beijing comes amid rising tensions with US

Xi Jinping has urged global business leaders to work together to protect supply chains at a meeting with a group of executives including Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx, Ola Källenius of Mercedes-Benz and Georges Elhedery of HSBC.

Amid a deepening trade war with the US, the Chinese leader told the group of more than 40 business leaders, which also included Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, Miguel Ángel López Borrego of Thyssenkrupp and Amin Nasser of Saudi Aramco, that foreign business leaders should resist behaviours that “turn back the clock” on history.

“We hope everyone can take a broad and long-term view . . . and not blindly follow actions that disrupt the security and stability of global industrial chains and supply chains, but instead contribute more positive energy and certainty to global development,” Xi told the gathering in Beijing on Friday.

The event at the Great Hall of the People marked the second consecutive year that Xi held a carefully staged meeting with foreign chief executives in the Chinese capital. Last year’s event was held exclusively with US business leaders.

The meeting came at the conclusion of a busy week for Chinese policymakers, who are trying to strengthen relations with international business amid rising tensions with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

China’s premier annual CEO conference, the China Development Forum, was held in Beijing this week, followed by the Boao Forum for Asia in the tropical resort island of Hainan. Beijing is seeking to promote itself as a bastion of stability in global trade in contrast to the US, where Trump has launched successive waves of tariffs on products from aluminium to cars. The president has vowed widespread, reciprocal duties on US trading partners on April 2, threatening further disruption to international trade.

“A few countries are building ‘small yards with high walls’, setting up tariff barriers, and politicising, instrumentalising, weaponising, and over-securitising economic and trade issues,” said Xi, who was accompanied by his foreign, commerce and finance ministers.

He said these actions were forcing companies “to take sides and make choices that go against economic principles”. “This runs counter to the overarching trend of open markets,” he said. He added that foreign enterprises, especially multinational corporations, had “considerable international influence”.

“We hope everyone will . . . resist regressive moves that turn back the clock,” Xi said. “Together, we must safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains. “Decoupling and severing ties harms others without benefiting oneself; it leads nowhere.”

International

US to Negotiate with Regional Governments on Hiring of Cuban Doctors

US special envoy to the Caribbean and Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, says the United States intends to negotiate a mechanism with Caribbean governments regarding the hiring of Cuban doctors.

The US has threatened visa restrictions for nations who benefit from Cuban medical missions. They deem the programme as a form of forced labour and trafficking on the part of the Cuban government.

Several countries in the Caribbean rely heavily on Cuban medical missions to supplement local staff.

The special envoy says the US wants a united voice against human trafficking, in favour of international labour laws. He says they look forward to reaching a deal that allows Caribbean governments to directly hire Cuban doctors.