In brief
Leila Salum Kanyinyi’s pain-free life returns after Chinese doctors completed a complex laparoscopic Boari flap ureteroneocystostomy. The operation, carried out by the 36th Chinese medical team, also trained local Zanzibar doctors and highlighted growing China‑Tanzania health cooperation.
Today a 38‑year‑old mother of three from Zanzibar’s Urban West Region ended a year of debilitating lower‑back and abdominal pain after Chinese doctors performed a complex laparoscopic ureter reconstruction at Lumumba Hospital.
Kanyinyi, a food vendor in Meli Nne in the Urban District, had been confined to a bed for months of pain that left her unable to care for her two boys and one girl. Doctors at Lumumba initially diagnosed a narrowing of her right ureter and, after further examination, found a long section of narrowing in the lower ureter that made the case more complex than first expected.
The local team consulted the 36th Chinese medical team stationed in Zanzibar. Urological specialist Wang Wei reviewed the case, devised a surgical plan and performed a laparoscopic Boari flap ureteroneocystostomy, a minimally invasive procedure that uses bladder tissue to reconstruct the damaged ureter.
Using laparoscopic equipment donated by China, Wang simultaneously trained local doctors on surgical anatomy, procedural technique and complication management, thereby strengthening Zanzibar’s medical capacity.
“I feel like I have been given a new life,” said Kanyinyi in an interview with Xinhua.
Kanyinyi thanked the Chinese doctors for the first‑class care and said she is now able to resume normal family life, having been relieved of the year‑long pain that had shrouded her daily routine.
Gideon Safiel Mwasakyalo, a doctor at Lumumba, highlighted that the operation exposed local medical talent and underscored the deepening China‑Tanzania health cooperation.
