On the afternoon of July 7, Dr. Frank Ruekert, the German Envoy to China, visited Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology to learn about the operation of the Sino-German Friendship Hospital and the history and achievements of the exchanges between Tongji Hospital and Germany.

Dr. Frank Ruekert’s trip to visit Tongji Hospital this time has also fulfilled his long-cherished dream. He said that Tongji Hospital had made great contributions to Sino-German medical exchanges, and at the same time played a role as a bridge between China and Germany. Tongji Hospital has reached a world-class level in terms of software, hardware, and medical service.

Accompanied by Prof. Liu Jihong, President of Tongji Hospital, Dr. Frank Ruekert and his entourage visited the outpatient clinic of the Sino-German Friendship Hospital (Optical Valley Branch of Tongji Hospital), the hospital culture wall, the CDGM-DCGM Exhibition Hall and the Sino-German Medical Exchange Exhibition Hall, and talked with the hospital medical staff representatives. After the epidemic, he came to the main medical battlefield against COVID-19 in Wuhan to express his respect for the medical staff of Tongji Hospital during the fight against the epidemic for their determination and courage.

On the China-Germany Cultural Corridor, Dr. Frank Ruekert saw many Tongji Hospital employees further their studies in Germany. He hoped to encourage German doctors to come to Tongji to learn from each other in the future and promote in-depth medical exchanges between China and Germany.

President Liu Jihong said: “Under the continuous effort of Tongji Hospital, Chinese-German medical exchanges have continued to deepen, and the exchanges between Chinese and German medical scientists have become increasingly close. Chinese-German medical science and technology and medical health work have flourished. The friendship between the two peoples continues to bear fruit.” In October 2018, China’s first Sino-German Friendship Hospital was officially inaugurated in the Optical Valley Branch of Tongji Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Tongji Hospital also uses this as a carrier and expects to build it as a benchmark for Sino-German exchanges.

Tongji Hospital is the cradle of Sino-German medical exchanges. In 1900, the German Dr. Erich Paulun founded today's Tongji Hospital in Shanghai. In 1984, the father of Chinese surgery, academician Qiu Fazu of Tongji Hospital and German medical experts jointly initiated the establishment of the Deutsch-Chinesischen Gesellschaft für Medizin (German-Chinese Medical Association) and the Chinesisch-Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizin (Sino-German Medical Association). For more than 30 years, they insisted on holding an annual academic conference, alternately in China and Germany. The office of CDGM is located in Tongji Hospital. After more than one hundred years, Tongji Hospital has become the most influential and fruitful platform for Sino-German medical exchange.