The fourth Chinese medical team sent to tsunami-devastated South and Southeast Asia returned to Beijing Monday morning after completing its relief mission.

The team comprised 20 medical personnel from different hospitals and health organizations in Beijing and Tianjin.

Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang and other relevant officials greeted the medical persons at the Beijing Airport.

"It is so good to be back at home," said Bai Huqun, head of the medical team.

The medical team arrived in Banda Aceh, the most seriously tsunami-hit area in Indonesia, on evening of Jan. 25. In the following 11 days, the doctors treated more than 1,200 people at the General Hospital of Banda Aceh, one-third of patients at the hospital.

Hours before leaving for home on Feb. 6, some members of the Chinese medical team were still giving medical treatment to children at local camps for tsunami victims.

During their work in Banda Aceh, the Chinese medical team inspected camps of displaced people around the city and conducted emergency hygienic assessment of the camps in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund. They also donated medical equipment and medicine to local hospitals.

Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang said that the successful maneuver of the medical team was a practical trial of the public health and emergency rescue systems that China is developing. The Chinese medical teams have completed their mission and demonstrated the internationalist and humanitarian spirit of the Chinese people.

Since the outbreak of earthquakes and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, Chinese Ministry of Health had sent four medical teams to the devastated areas in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The other three medical teams had returned to China by Jan. 19.

Source: Xinhua