A Chinese construction company is rebuilding the only public hospital in Junin Canton, which was badly hit by an earthquake in April. The company, among the biggest construction organizations in China, will begin reconstruction work on Friday.

Doctors and nurses are currently working in a number of make-shift centers around the city and the number of patients they can treat has dropped significantly. Prior to being destroyed, the Junin hospital treat hundreds of patients every day. Local officials and residents have high hopes for the new hospital building.

"We can see the outstanding facilities built by Chinese companies everywhere in Ecuador, not only hospitals but many other facilities. We believe that the Chinese company will build a first-class hospital for Junin and for the whole country," Ben Hur Rodrigues, ,manager of Junin Hospital, said.

"This will be a life-changing project for local people. The original hospital building was totally destroyed in the earthquake. So the most important principle of our reconstruction work is absolute safety of the buildings, which can be used even during an earthquake. In light of the performance of Chinese companies in medical and infrastructure construction projects, we took advice from the Chinese embassy here. Our country will cooperate with them with no efforts spared to make sure the building of the hospital will be completed on time," Carlos Bernal, secretary-general of Ecuadorian Reconstruction & Recovery Committee, said.