DAR ES SALAAM, July 18 (Xinhua) -- China is set to build a cardiac surgery treatment and training center here to provide better training for Tanzanian medical service workers and help improve the health status of the Tanzanian people.

Tanzanian and Chinese representatives shakes hands at the signing ceremony for the contract of the construction of the cardiac surgery Treatment and Training Center of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, on July 18, 2009. China is set to build a cardiac surgery treatment and training center here to provide better training for Tanzanian medical service workers and help improve the health status of the Tanzanian people. (Xinhua/Guo Chunju) Photo Gallery>>>

    At the signing ceremony for the contract of the construction of the cardiac surgery Treatment and Training Center of Tanzania, Blandina Nyoni, the permanent secretary of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said that China has been providing medical service to her country since 1968 in accordance with the traditional friendship between the two countries.

    "China assisted Tanzania with medical equipment and training as well as the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients via traditional Chinese medicine. The project of the construction of the cardiac surgery Treatment and Training Center of Tanzania is of great importance and will further help improve Tanzania's medical service level, as Tanzanian cardiac patients will have no need to go abroad to receive surgery," Nyoni noted.

    For his part, Fu Jijun, Charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy to Tanzania, said that the cooperation in medical sectors between China and Tanzania is expanding as the two countries have a long history of good relations.

    He expressed his belief that the project will further benefit the Tanzanian people, promote their health and add new chapters to the bilateral friendship with the high-quality and high-standard building.

    The project will be an advanced cardiac surgery hospital, expected to be constructed in October this year and transferred to the Tanzanian side in November, 2010. The construction of the building is totally worth 63.5 million Yuan (about 9.33 million U.S. dollars).