Macao’s newest medical facility will be known as the “Islands District Medical Complex – Macao Medical Centre of Peking Union Medical Hospital” following the signing of a management agreement between local authorities and the prestigious teaching hospital in the Chinese capital.
Elise Ao Ieong U, Macao’s secretary for social affairs and culture, and Zhang Shuyan, the Peking Union Medical Hospital’s president, inked the agreement at a ceremony in Beijing yesterday in the presence of Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng.
Senior officials from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, the National Health Commission and the Peking Union Medical College Hospital also attended.
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The signing is the culmination of the Macao government’s initial 2021 invitation to the Peking Union Medical College Hospital to act as a partner in the management and operation of the new hospital in Cotai, then called the Islands Healthcare Complex. Construction of the facility was completed in December 2022 and it is scheduled to start trial operations by the end of this year.
The new hospital, which cost over 10 billion patacas to build, was proposed in order to further meet the healthcare needs of Macao residents and to enhance the city’s services in terms of specialised healthcare. When it becomes fully functional, it will include 1,100 beds. A sum of 13 billion patacas has been budgeted for medical equipment.
While in Beijing, Ho and other high-level Macao officials will attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which will open tomorrow.
—With reporting by Kenny Fong
