The weeklong visit to Cape Town by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) hospital ship Peace Ark has been deemed a success by the South African Military Health Service (SAMHS) after thousands of people were treated aboard the vessel.
The Peace Ark arrived in Cape Town on 22 August and departed on the 28th, and saw Chinese medical personnel working alongside their SA Military Health Service counterparts providing a variety of medical services aboard and ashore.
SAMHS Brigadier General Kwena Mabotja said the objective of the exercise was “to achieve excellent medical service to the community of the Western Cape.” This goal was successfully accomplished by the SA Military Health Service military health practitioners, who played a key role in delivering vital healthcare services during the mission, SAMHS said.
During the visit, the Peace Ark provided medical services for 3 700 visitors and successfully performed surgeries such as uterine fibroid removal and cataract restoration. It also dispatched expert teams to local hospitals for joint consultations and academic exchanges and organized special academic exchanges on Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
“These activities have effectively promoted medical and health exchanges and cooperation between China and South Africa,” the Chinese military said. “Members of the hospital ship also collaborated with their South African counterparts to organize joint cultural performances and sports events, further enhancing mutual understanding and deepening friendship.”
During Peace Ark’s Cape Town stop, the ship was toured by Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga along with her two deputies, Major General (retired) Bantu Holomisa and Richard Hlophe, as well as the Chief of the South African National Defence Force, General Rudzani Maphwanya, the SA Military Health Service Surgeon General, Lieutenant General (Dr) Peter Maphaha, Chief of the South African Navy, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, and Former President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe.
Lobese said the visit strengthened relations between the South African and Chinese defence forces, but also between the two navies. “Many vessels from the People’s Liberation Army Navy have frequented and visited South African shores, however this event is historic in nature from a diplomatic as well as from a humanitarian medical services perspective.”
“The People’s Liberation Army Navy has rolled out this programme to a number of countries around the world, and South Africa is now fortunate to be counted amongst those recipients of this generous assistance and collaboration,” Lobese said.
Lobese recounted the support from China during the apartheid era, with China providing training to the first group of uMkhonto weSizwe cadres. “China has been a valued friend and developmental partner of South Africa throughout the course of rebuilding our country from the ruins of apartheid and this can also be attributed to the good relations in terms of trade between our two countries, with China being our biggest trade partner with an export value exceeding $23 billion.”
The SA Navy Chief made special mention of China’s support during the COVID-19 pandemic through the provision of personal protective equipment, vaccines and other essential items to South Africa and other African countries.
Under its Mission Harmony 2024 cruise, the Peace Ark is now headed for Angola, her sixth stop. Her previous stop was Mozambique, where Peace Ark treated more than 7 300 patients. Before Mozambique she was in Madagascar and Seychelles.
All told, Peace Ark is staffed by a thousand plus people made up of ship’s crew and military medical personnel. She has 300 beds, 20 intensive care beds, eight operating theatres, 17 clinical departments and five auxiliary diagnostic departments. An onboard medical rescue helicopter is used to airlift patients.
The hospital ship sailed on 16 June this year from a military port in Zhoushan, an archipelago in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
During her cruise the ship is visiting 15 countries in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans with visits already completed to Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique. Further calls will be made in Angola, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Benin, Mauritania, France, Greece, Djibouti and Sri Lanka.
