A Sino-German Friendship Hospital will be established in Shanghai to offer high-end medicare to Chinese and foreign people in China before the 2010 World Expo.

According to an agreement signed here Thursday by Shanghai-based Tongji University and the two German investors of Siemens Project Venture GmbH under Siemens AG, and Asklepios Kliniken, a major private hospital operator in Germany, the hospital will see a total investment of more than one billion yuan(100 million euros).

Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting German President HorstKohler attended the signing ceremony.

Located in Shanghai International Medical Zone in Nanhui District of Pudong, the joint-ventured hospital will begin operation with some 250 beds in service upon completion of its first phase construction in 2009.

The growing number of well-off people in Shanghai has brought up much need for high-end medical service, which is especially reflected by the World Expo 2010 as millions of foreign visitors will swarm in, Richard Hausmann, President and CEO of Siemens Ltd.,China told reporters.

Considering this potential market in Shanghai and its surrounding areas, the hospital will serve as a major medical institution for foreign people in China and international visitors to the World Expo, the city's largest international event in 2010.

The hospital will focus on cardiovascular disease, cranial nerve disease and women's health, and will engage in research on combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, said Bernd Ohnesorge, senior vice president of Siemens Ltd.,China and president of Medical Solutions Group.

Investors said they plan to list the hospital in the medical insurance system of Germany or other European countries, thus solving the medical assurance problem for expatriates in China.

The hospital will introduce advanced hospital management concept and medical technologies and hire staff from China and abroad.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2007)