Even with more than 30 hospitals and 20,000 practitioners in their home city, a medical delegation from the Chinese city of Jiangmen hoped to learn something from Prince George's only hospital.
A group of eight people from Prince George's potential twin city toured medical program facilities at UNBC, CNC as well as the University Hospital of Northern B.C. and the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North Wednesday.
"Prince George has been working with Jiangmen for three years on building a strong relationship," said Mayor Shari Green. "We understand that health care is a good opportunity for our two cities to work together and share our knowledge."
The visit marked the first time a healthcare-centric exchange had been conducted, said Song Hua, a representative of Jiangmen's Bureau of Health.
"We want to see the technical side of the medical [system] here and we want to see the management of the hospital from the Canadians," said Song. The goal is for more health exchanges to take place and ultimately have doctors from each city training in the partner country.
"We welcome foreign doctors coming to China and we also welcome foreign investments to come to Jiangmen to build hospitals," said Song.
Wednesday's group marked the second visit from a Chinese delegation to the city this year following the 2012 signing of a memorandum of understanding between Prince George and Jiangmen to establish a twinning relationship. Representatives from Jiangmen's Wuyi University visited in May to sign their own agreement with UNBC.
Green, along with city manager Beth James and Initiatives Prince George CEO Heather Oland, will travel to China from Nov. 5 to 13.
