Chinese Government provides RMB 80 million grant for Phase 1 of the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital Project (Linked to Record ID#5989)

In November 2006, at the first Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Chinese Government agreed to support the construction of 30 hospitals across Africa, one of which included the Tirunesh-Beijing Ethio-China Friendship Hospital (Chinese name: 提露内丝-北京医院).

Then, according to the Government of Ethiopia’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), the Chinese Government issued an RMB 80 million (ETB 91,924,840) grant for Phase 1 of the Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital Project on September 26, 2008.

The project’s first phase included the construction of an outpatient building, and an in-patient building with 100 patient beds. It also involved the provision of modern and high-tech medical equipment. A team of 15 Chinese medical professionals was also assigned to the hospital to work alongside Ethiopian professionals.

The hospital is located in Akaki, around 25 km south of the country's capital, Addis Ababa.

The state-of-art hospital was named after Tirunesh Dibaba, an Ethiopian female athlete who won two gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

On July 29, 2009, the signing ceremony for the contract for the implementation of Phase 1 of the Tirunesh-Beijing Ethio-China Friendship Hospital was held in the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia.

A representative of China Jiangxi International Economic and Technical Cooperation Corporation and Ethiopia’s Minister of State of the Ministry of Health of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Kebeide, signed the implementation contract. A foundation stone laying ceremony was held on June 6, 2009. Then, a formal kick-off ceremony for the project was held on October 23, 2009.

Phase 1 was completed and officially handed over to the Ethiopian Government on November 16, 2011. The hospital was put into full operation on March 4, 2016.