China Dispatches Naval Hospital to South Africa
As African and Chinese leaders prepare for The Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to be held early September 2024 in Beijing, China has dispatched a naval hospital ship to provide humanitarian medical assistance to African countries including Mozambique and South Africa.
Early this month, China’s Minister, Liu Jinchao’s visited South Africa in pursuit of efforts to strengthen and consolidate deepening China-South Africa relations.
The hospital ship, known as the Peace Ark, which is on its way to Cape Town to provide humanitarian medical assistance has over 300 beds onboard, and is equipped with advanced modern medical facilities.
The Peace Ark has a total of 16 departments, eight operating rooms, and more than 300 beds, blood banks, examination rooms, various diagnostic and treatment facilities, and an onboard medical rescue helicopter.
Since its launch in 2007, the Peace Ark has visited over 45 countries and regions. It has provided medical care services to more than 290 000 people. Before the hospital ship docked in Cape Town, it visited Mozambique for seven days, and departe from Maputo on 16 August 2024. In Mozambique, medical personnel aboard the ship provided medical services to more than 7 300 patients.
They also performed 74 surgeries and treated 1 658 patients on the 16 August 2024, the highest number of treatments in a single day during the mission.
Cape Town’s stop follows China’s Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, Liu Jinchao’s visit to Cape Town earlier this month. He visited South Africa as part of efforts to strengthen China-South Africa and China-Africa relations.
The visits indicate that the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Agreement signed by President Xi Jinping and Cyril Ramaphosa has surely taken off, bolstering solidarity and cooperation between the two countries, and the African continent.
The ship’s visit underscores Minister Liu’s emphasis that China and South Africa relations are now in the important stage of building a new era of a China-South Africa community with a shared future. It is a practical example of the cornerstone of China’s foreign policy of cooperation towards developing nations in Africa. The visit will further develop solidarity and cooperation with African countries as part of China’s foreign policy.
China played a major role in helping African countries fight the Covid 19 pandemic providing much-needed vaccines, protective medicines, equipment, shared knowledge, and experiences. Shared solidarity between Africa and China will continue to be very important in combating pandemics like Mpox, in a continent that is often lacking in medical resources, and facing a myriad of developmental challenges.
