By Ma Yuhan, Yichang International Communication Studio

During the early hours of January 2, Hallal Zohra was facing danger in labor when Wan Xiaofang was given an urgent call. Yichang doctor Wan was working her first shift of the new year where she was assigned to the Makour Hamou hospital in the Ain Defla province of northern Algeria during a medical aid mission.

Having already delivered two children before, Hallal was now pregnant with twins. After delivering the first baby girl smoothly, the second, a boy, was stuck.

Once receiving the call for help, Wan quickly assessed Hallal’s condition and the position of the fetus in her uterus. The boy’s legs were not positioned properly for birth but for the safety of both the mother and child, Wan decided not to perform a caesarean section which she thought could have lead to death or injury. Instead, using her hand to adjust the position of the baby and gently grabbing his right leg, she carefully completed the delivery.

Wan, 48, is a chief obstetrician of Yichang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital and one of the 81 members of the 28th Chinese medical team to Algeria. 

Wan started her two-year term in 2023, and this is her first time participating in a foreign medical aid mission. She is not only responsible for outpatient services but also for surgeries.


 Wan Xiaofang with Hallal Zohra and her two babies.

Despite a heavy workload, Wan felt she was very much needed here. “It's been a dream to join the foreign aid works. My family has been very supportive of my decision," Wan said.

Since 1963, Hubei has dispatched 3,706 medical workers to Algeria and Lesotho, who have together worked to treat about 27.57 million patients, perform 1.75 million operations and deliver 2.08 million newborns.

Yichang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital contributed the original Chinese story for this report.

翻译：

马宇涵，宜昌国际交流工作室。

1月2日凌晨，当万晓芳接到紧急电话时，哈拉尔·祖赫拉正面临分娩危险。宜昌医生这是Wan新年的第一个轮班，她被分配到阿尔及利亚北部Ain Defla省的Makour Hamou医院执行医疗援助任务。

哈拉尔已经生了两个孩子，现在怀上了一对双胞胎。顺利产下第一个女婴后，第二个男婴就卡住了。

接到求救电话后，万迅速评估了哈拉尔的情况和胎儿在子宫中的位置。男孩的双腿位置不适合出生，但为了母亲和孩子的安全，万决定不进行剖腹产，她认为剖腹产可能会导致死亡或受伤。相反，她用手调整婴儿的位置，轻轻地抓住他的右腿，小心翼翼地完成了分娩。

48岁的万医生是宜昌市妇幼保健院的首席产科医生，也是中国第28批赴阿尔及利亚医疗队的81名队员之一。

她于2023年开始为期两年的任期，这是她第一次参加国外医疗援助任务。她不仅负责门诊服务，还负责手术。

万小芳与哈拉尔祖赫拉和她的两个孩子。

尽管工作量很大，但万感到这里非常需要她。“加入援外工作一直是我的梦想。我的家人一直很支持我的决定，”万说。

自1963年以来，湖北先后向阿尔及利亚和莱索托派遣了3706名医务工作者，累计诊治患者约2757万人，实施手术175万例，接生新生儿208万例。

宜昌市妇幼保健院 为这篇报道提供了原创的中文故事。