A Chinese construction company this week opened a private hospital it funded and built in a fast-growing district outside Luanda, Angola, that sprouted in the last decade as a result of slum clearances.
Since 2001 tens of thousands of houses have been built in the district of Zango (pictured), 40km from downtown Luanda, to rehouse people who had flocked to the capital as a result of the civil war that spanned 1975 to 2002.Â
It’s one of a number of new satellite towns built mostly by Chinese contractors active in the oil-rich country.
The new Zhong Yan Hospital was inaugurated this week by Angolan health minister Jose Van Dunem, other prominent officials and representatives of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Angola, Xinhua news agency reported.
Van Dunem said recent years had witnessed a population explosion in Zango and that the medical care system had been insufficient. He thanked the Chinese entrepreneurs for opening the first comprehensive medical facility in the district.
Zhong Yan Hospital was established with an investment of $10m from China’s Zhong Xing Construction company.
It has 87 beds and more than 100 doctors and nurses from China, Cuba and Angola, Xinhua reported.
Shen Yongzhong, president of Zhong Xing Construction in Angola, said his company entered the Angolan post-war reconstruction process 10 years ago.
Photograph: Tens of thousands of houses have been built in Zango, 40km outside the Angolan capital, Luanda, to house people after slum clearances (Wikimapia.org)
