By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Government of Liberia and the People’s Republic of China over the weekend signed the Agreement on the China-Liberia Paired Hospital Cooperation Mechanism at the Chinese Embassy.
The ceremony was followed by the donation of two respirators, 16 oxygen masks, 240 boxes of anti-malaria drugs and 1200 surgical masks to the John F. Kennedy Medical Center.
The Charge d’Affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Liberia Xu Kun revealed that Liberia and China both countries being developing nations, the Chinese people feel real empathy for Liberian and what they had been through.
He said China has always cared about the health and safety of the Liberian people, and has always treated the difficulties faced by the Liberian people as China own since the two countries are good brothers and partners.
”It is commonly known that China and Liberia both belong to developing countries. We face many of the same challenges in a wide range of fields. Not so long ago, Chinese people also suffered from disease, which was resulted from poor public healthcare system and poor basic medical service system,” Xu Kun said.
He boasted that present data shows that most of the Chinese people are now living a better life while the average life expectancy of Chinese people has risen from 35 years in 1949, the year of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, to 78.2 years in 2021
The project according to the Charge d’Affairs is a part of the Chinese Aid Projects in Liberia.
“To my understanding, the total budget of the Chinese HeiLongjiang Provincial Hospital and Liberian JFK Medical Center Internal Cardiovascular Medicine Department Cooperative Project is up to one million USD. This project will help JFK hospital to build an independent medical team comprised with 12 hospital beds, 4 cardiologists and 4 professional nurses, and will effectively improve the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment to the cardiovascular diseases as well as the ability to rescue emergency and severe cases,” he explained.
In remarks the Chief Executive Officer and General Administrator of the JFK Medical Center, Dr. Jerry Brown, lauded the Chinese government for the relationship between Liberia and the Provincial Hospital of China.
According to Dr. Brown, the opportunity provided to Liberia by China through the new project will not only give Liberia improve medical services but also access to capacity building that will enable health care providers to improve in their game.
He said the project will also enable the hospital to be able to diagnose different cardiovascular diseases as well as having human resources capacitated to treated them.
Dr. Brown further indicate that the there is a need for the Chinese to see the relationship build with Liberia as symbiotic one seeking assistance of Liberia in whatever way the need be.
“We are aware that the Provincial Hospital is way bigger than us in whatever they may see it but, we that no matter our size we can work with them and improve certain things. So, this relationship should be mutual to the two side than being parasitic,” he noted.
