The PLA navy hospital ship Peace Ark opened to the public for a guided tour on Tuesday at Muara Port in Brunei.

The vessel, which arrived on Sunday for a port call, provided free medical checkups for local people on Monday.

It took part in the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise.

The ship is an emergency medical support vessel independently designed and built by China. Its tasks include treatment and evacuation of injured and sick personnel at sea and medical support for troops stationed on islands and atolls.

The 4,000-square-meter vessel includes seven offices for doctors and nurses, eight nursing stations and 300 beds. The medical equipment on board is on par with that in China's top hospitals.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/19/2013 page11)