Shanghai doctor honored by Japanese government

A local doctor was honored by the Japanese government for his great contributions in enhancing medical exchanges between China and Japan.

Dr Liu Weidong, president of the Shanghai International Medical Center, is the first medical professional on the Chinese mainland to receive The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.

The ceremony was held at the Consulate-General of Japan in Shanghai on Sunday.

Liu has been involved in medical communication between the two countries for over 20 years. He went to Osaka Medical College to serve as a foreign teacher in 1989. He was the first in China to receive a Doctorate of Medicine on neurosurgery in Japan in 1992.

During that time, he compiled medical dictionaries on neurosurgery terms in Chinese, English and Japanese.

He returned to China in 1992 along with advanced hospital management theories from Japan, and pushed medical reform in Shanghai.

He established the international medical department in Punan Hospital in the Pudong New Area in 1999, and has offered over 60,000 treatments to Japanese patients so far. He also sent Chinese doctors to Japan to learn high-end medical skills and cultivated over 20 medical students from Japan. He also organizes Sino-Japan medical exchange seminars every year.

He established China's first medical rescue team in air with participation of some 20 experienced medics, offering medical service and first aid for nearly 300 Japanese in China.

Liu said he is honored to receive the Order, and said medical exchange and cooperation between the two countries can not only improve professional knowledge and skills for medics but also enhance understanding, trust and friendship between medical professionals of the two countries.