Cameroon's Health Minister Andre Mama Fouda and Chinese Ambassador to the central African country Huang Changqing welcomed a new team of Chinese doctors on Friday, praising the role Chinese doctors play in improving health care services in Cameroon.

Fouda and the Chinese ambassador attended a welcome ceremony in the Yaounde women and children's hospital for the new 45-member Chinese medical team.

Speaking at the ceremony, Fouda praised the work of the Chinese medical teams in Cameroon and expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for the assistance China has provided to Cameroon in the public health sector.

Huang said China has sent 13 medical teams to Cameroon since 1975, provided medicine and medical equipment and helped train medical staff and build hospitals in Cameroon.

Anderson Samadoh, chief of the Yaounde women and children's hospital, which China helped build, said the hospital is a fruit of China-Cameroon cooperation in public health.

"Now, patients from other central African countries would come to the hospital for medical treatment by Chinese doctors," Samadoh said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2008)