PLA Navy hospital ship sets sail for 2024 charity mission

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy hospital ship "Peace Ark" set sail from a military port in Zhoushan in east China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday morning for Mission Harmony-2024.

This is the 12th overseas voyage for "Peace Ark" since its commissioning in 2008, and also the 10th Mission Harmony for the vast hospital ship.

During the mission, the ship will visit 13 countries including Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa, and offer free medical service to local residents, people in Chinese institutions, and overseas Chinese. It will also make port calls to France and Greece.

The maritime hospital is composed of more than 100 medical personnel, who are mainly selected from the Naval Medical University, with others from the joint logistic support force as well as the medical servicemen of the Navy under the eastern, southern and northern theater commands.

The hospital has 17 clinical departments and five auxiliary diagnostic departments, which can carry out more than 60 kinds of examination, treatment or surgery. The ship also carries a shipboard ambulance helicopter, with rapid forward emergency rescue capabilities.

"This mission is a vivid practice of the Chinese military to provide high-quality medical services to the people of relevant countries and public health products to the international community. It is of great practical significance to publicize Chinese-style modernization and the concept of peaceful development of our military, to demonstrate the open and confident image of the Chinese Navy, and to effectively test the far-sea medical support capability of the military," said Su Qinfeng, a serviceman of the Mission Harmony-2024.

This mission will be the longest voyage and the largest number of countries visited by the "Peace Ark" among the harmony missions.

The "Peace Ark" is the country's first independently designed standard ocean-going hospital ship, with a length of 178 meters, the maximum width of 24 meters, and a full load displacement of over 14,000 tons.

The cutting-edge vessel is equipped with resuscitation room, X-ray room, computerized tomography (CT) room, laboratory, blood preparation room and medical information center. It also has advanced medical facilities and a complete nursing system, with intensive care ward, serious injury ward, burn ward, general ward, isolation ward, etc.

The modern maritime hospital ship also boasts a telemedicine consultation system, and a medical equipment configuration equivalent a Grade 3A hospital, which is the highest level in the classification of hospitals in the Chinese mainland.

The "Peace Ark" has traveled more than 290,000 nautical miles and visited 45 countries and regions, providing humanitarian medical services to over 290,000 people and conducting more than 1,700 surgeries.

PLA Navy hospital ship sets sail for 2024 charity mission

The China International Emergency Management Exhibition opened in Beijing on Wednesday, which helps address the growing demand for global cooperation in preventing and mitigating disasters. 

The three-day exhibition highlights latest technologies in disaster prevention, rescue, firefighting, and workplace safety, attracting more than 150 companies from home and abroad. 

The exhibition is also believed to be a major step to promote international cooperation in natural disaster prevention and emergency management under the Belt and Road Initiative.  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The exhibition is an important platform to showcase new equipment, new materials and new technology, promote industrial development, and facilitate international exchange," said Xu Jia'ai, Vice Minister of Emergency Management. 

Foreign ambassadors to China said that they value the opportunities to work with the country, so as to get their countries well prepared for the uncertainty of natural disasters. 

"Of course, Nicaragua has very limited resources to address these multiple challenges, but by working, by cooperating with China, we can learn from Chinese experience. We can acquire a Chinese technology that can, in turn, help us to protect our people's lives better," said Michael Campbell, Nicaragua's Ambassador to China. 

"Honestly, when I walked in, I saw a range of different types of technology. One of the things that I notice is the size of the drones. I spoke to one of our colleagues on the floor when she was telling me about the drones which have all these camera capabilities that can go on scooping missions. So when the drones go out, they can assess the danger, assess the types of responses that I need to deal with a situation like that, because most times, unfortunately, human life is at risk. We send out drones to assess emergencies on the ground," said Analisa Low, Trinidad and Tobago's Ambassador to China. 

"This is the good achievement not only for China but also for the Global South countries and peoples and human beings as a matter of fact, because it helps the other countries to achieve more equipment and knowledge to protect their people," said Abolfazl Olamaei Far, Head of Mission of the Embassy of Iran. 

More than ten releases and activities debuting equipment will be held at the event. Officials said they hope the exhibition will become a platform to promote exchanges for the technological development of disaster relief, as the world continues to experience the impact of global warming. 

China hosts exhibition on disaster prevention, emergency management