Chinese doctors bring relief to traumatized child in South Sudan

Chinese doctors have brought relief to a six-year-old South Sudanese child, Nelson Mandela, who had dropped out of school due to poor health.
Chinese ENT doctor Wang Chuan Xi (L) and South Sudanese doctor, Michael Deng Achier attend to six-year-old Nelson Mandela inside Juba Teaching Hospital on Monday, December 16,2024. Mandela was diagnosed with Thyroglossal duct (TGD) cyst-a benign (non-cancerous) lump in the front of his neck.

By Denis Ejulu

Chinese doctors have brought relief to a six-year-old South Sudanese child, Nelson Mandela, who had dropped out of school due to poor health.

Mandela had endured immense pain in his anterior thorax, and was unable to eat or drink due to Thyroglossal duct (TGD) cyst-a benign (non-cancerous) lump in the front of his neck.

According to his mother, Joyce Moses, the swelling on her child started when he was three months old, and by 2022 the swelling on his neck had enlarged, leaving him traumatized after enduring bullying in school. This forced Mandela’s parents to halt his school attendance.

Moses who vends fruits and porridge on the streets in Juba, the capital of South Sudan on Tuesday expressed relief after her child underwent successful operation on December 16.

The operation was conducted at Juba Teaching Hospital by the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor, Wang Chuan Xi, a member of the Chinese medical team.

 “My child had been unable to do basic things such as eating, drinking and had difficulties in breathing, and whenever he went to school, children would bully him because of the swelling around his neck and this caused trauma to the child,” Moses told The Dawn on Tuesday, when Wang and his South Sudanese colleague Michael Deng Achier visited them in the outpatient ward.

“I am very happy for the operation because I was struggling to find money for the operation elsewhere. Now that my child’s condition has improved, I am willing to work hard within this month to get money for school fees to ensure he enrolls again in school in January 2025,” she disclosed.

Moses had initially failed to meet the cost of the operation at a private clinic in Juba, with doctors demanding 1,500 U.S dollars for the surgical operation on her child.

 Mandela is currently showing positive signs as he recuperates, due to the fact that he no longer feels pain on his neck, and has also regained appetite for food and drinks.

“Today (Tuesday) he took porridge and even when I gave him sweets he was able to eat,” Moses said.

Michael Deng Achier, general practitioner who was part of the team that carried out the operation on Mandela, said the family of Mandela contacted them after they learnt of the activities of the 12th batch of the Chinese medical team on social media.

Achier said this operation is the first –of- it’s kind to be conducted by the Chinese medical team in Juba Teaching Hospital.

“The operation lasted for about 50 minutes, and it was the first kind of operation to be conducted in this hospital by the Chinese medical team. The previous teams which I worked with since 2018, never performed this kind of operation in this hospital,” Achier said.

Wang Chuan Xi, the doctor who carried out the operation on Mandela, said he is looking forward to do more suck kind of operations on children in South Sudan.

“I would like to do more operations on children but for this kind of operation to be carried out successfully, it requires special anesthetic equipment and special anesthesia and all these things are not at the hospital,” he revealed.

Wang said he has so far operated 15 patients at both the hospital and the clinic at the University of Juba since September when the 12th batch of the Chinese medical team arrived in the country.

In addition, Wang said he has also attended to about 500 patients in total, offering consultancy services and medical treatment free of charge.

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