Yonsei University Health System and China’s Hiking Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Qingdao-Severance Hospital which will open in 2021, marking the first entry of a Korean of a general hospital to enter China.

The 1,000-bed general hospital is located in Qingdao, Shandong Province. The two sides began the construction of the hospital under a joint venture agreement in March 2016 following a memorandum of understanding signed in August 2014.

Officials from Yonsei, Hiking Group, and various government agencies attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

Yonsei University President Kim Yong-hak (second from left), South Korean Ambassador to China Noh Young-min (fourth from left), former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (fifth from left), former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo (sixth from left) join Chinese officials in groundbreaking ceremony for Qingdao-Severance Hospital in Lao Shan District in Qingdao, China, Monday.

Among the Korean dignitaries attending the event were Ban Ki-moon, former U.N. secretary-general and the current co-chairman of the Ban Ki-moon Center for Global Citizens, Yonsei University President Kim Yong-hak, and YUHS President Yoon Do-heum along with other Yonsei faculty members.

From the Chinese side, Hiking Group Chairman and President Zhang Jianhua presented himself. Former Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and Ambassador to China Noh Young-min also took part in the ceremony.

Qingdao-Severance Hospital, a 20-story building with four floors underground, is located in an ecological health city that spans about 2.5 million square meters, created as an eco-friendly new urban area in the Chinese city.

About 300 billion won ($268 million) will be invested in the latter half of this year to open the hospital by the second half of 2021, with the funding split 50 to 50 between Hiking Group and YUHS.

Qingdao Severance Hospital will be built and run by the Severance Hospital’s existing medical treatment system and boast a patient-oriented hospital building design, YUHS said.

yjc@docdocdoc.co.kr

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