Chinese Government pledges a grant for the Upgrade of the Lao-China Friendship Hospital

On April 10, 2018, the Chinese Government and the Government of Laos signed an agreement for a feasibility study on China's aid for the Upgrade of the Lao-China Friendship Hospital (also known as Luang Prabang Provincial Hospital). The project explored by the feasibility study would see the addition of a surgery and cardiovascular building, an outpatient and emergency department, an inpatient department, additional intensive-care unit beds, a surgery operation room, a DSA area, a telehealth center, and a classroom for training over a total land area of 74,677 square meters and on a new construction area of 5,680 square meters. After the project, the Lao-China Friendship Hospital was expected to become the main hospital of northern Laos and the teaching hospital of Luang Prabang provincial medical school. The project was then mentioned in a five-year action plan signed on April 30, 2019, but it does not appear to have been committed at this time. On March 30, 2021, a professional inspection nine-person team from China Railway No. 2 Group Co., Ltd. Kunming Research Design Institute and Kunming Construction Consulting Management Co., Ltd. arrived in Laos to negotiate the project plan and sign an implementation agreement with Laos. By this time, the Chinese Government had committed grant financing for the project, as well as three years of technical assistance and medical training for Laotian medical staff in China. On January 13, 2023, the 14th Bureau of China Power Construction Hydropower Co., Ltd. held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which is currently under implementation.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 中国援老挝琅勃拉邦医院升级改造项目. 2. The Commitment date is unclear; based on the feasibility study it does not appear that a full grant agreement was signed until at least 2021 (notice how the implementation agreement had not been signed by then).

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

7