Chinese navy hospital ship to visit Bangladesh's premier port

Chinese navy hospital ship "Peace Ark" will visit Bangladesh's southeastern port city Chittagong and provide free medical service to local people next week, a Chinese military official said Monday.

It is the second time "Peace Ark" visits the premier port of Bangladesh, Senior colonel Zhang Wei, Defense Attache of the Chinese embassy, told reporters at a press briefing held in the embassy.

"Peace Ark" paid a successful visit to Chittagong in November 2010, providing free medical service to thousands of local people, Zhang said, adding that those patients who received treatment last time will have the chance to be re-examined by the medical staff of the hospital ship.

Bangladesh is one of the eight Asian nations that "Peace Ark" plans to visit for its four-month-long trip, starting from June 10 to October 6. In the past two months, the hospital ship has visited Brunei, the Gulf of Aden, Maldive, Pakistanand India.

The Chinese hospital ship is an emergency medical support platform independently designed and built by China. Its tasks include treatment and evacuation of injured and sick personnel on the sea, and medical support for troops stationed at islands and atolls.

The ship is 178 meters long, 24 meters wide and 35.5 meters high, with a displacement of 14,300 tons. It has seven offices for doctors and nurses and eight nurse stations, in addition to 300 beds. The medical equipment on the ship is on par with that in China's top-level hospitals.