Australia's Queensland state to share health expertise with China's Sichuan province

Australia's Queensland state on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China's Sichuan province to share healthcare expertise, including training for healthcare professionals and hospital management.

Deputy Director-General of the Sichuan Health and Family Planning Commission Ou Lisheng said he looked forward to collaborating in these priority areas, according to a Queensland media release.

"I hope that through the signing of the MoU between Queensland and Sichuan we will further collaboration between our governments in the health sector," the statement quoted Ou as saying.

"We hope that through improving health services, we can address the health and wellbeing of people living in poverty in Sichuan province."

Queensland Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Cameron Dick witnessed the signing of the MOU in Brisbane by representatives from the two sides.

The move will "encourage sharing of expertise in critical health areas such as policy and regulation and best practice for hospital management, as well as health service development", the minister was quoted as saying.

"China and Queensland have a great history of working effectively together," he said.

"We share the same issues of ageing populations, increasing chronic disease, increasing healthcare costs, issues of access and quality and the need to create more sustainable healthcare systems."

"This agreement sets out to support future collaborations between our government and the provincial government of Sichuan to tackle these shared issues."

The signing was part of a Chinese delegation's two-day visit to Queensland. The trip also included a visit to a facility for adult patients recovering from mental health conditions and an overview of health service delivery models, the media statement said.

The agreement is one of several involving China witnessed by the Australian minister in recent months.

In October, he also witnessed an MoU signed between state health authorities and China's Zhejiang province to collaborate in areas such as technology solutions, primary care, aged care and the treatment of communicable diseases. Endit