China, India to set up joint medical team during Singh´s tour

Source: Xinhua | 01-09-2008 15:32

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A China-India joint medical team will be set up during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China next week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said here Tuesday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Indian counterpart Singh will attend a ceremony marking the establishment of the medical team, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said.

Jiang said the Chinese People's Association For Friendship With Foreign Countries and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations will select 20 young doctors, 10 from each country, to form the team.

The establishment of the joint medical team is to commemorate the 70th anniversary of an Indian medical team which first came to China to provide medical services to Chinese people, said Jiang.

The doctors will provide free medical treatment and conduct other charity activities in the two countries in the hope of carrying forward the spirit of international humanitarianism of the Indian medical team, and deepening the friendship and mutual understanding of Chinese and Indian people.

An Indian medical team of five members came to China in 1938 to help the Chinese in the war of resistance against Japanese aggression. One of the Indian doctors Dwarkanath S. Kotnis was well remembered in China for his selflessness and untiring support of the Chinese people.

Kotnis died of illness on December 9, 1942 at the age of only 32. A memorial hall was built in Baoding, north China's Hebei province, in commemoration of Kotnis and Dr. Norman Bethune, another devoted Canadian doctor who worked in China.

Singh will pay an official visit to China from Jan. 13 to 15.

Editor:Zhang Ning