The US$42 million hospital covers an area of 50,000 sq.m in Meanchey district, around ten km from Phnom Penh with 500 beds.

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong said the project is new, vivid evidence of the good neighbourly ties and time-honoured friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia.

After coming into operation, the hospital will help improve health care services for Phnom Penh city dwellers in particular and the Cambodian people in general, Mr Trong added.

The hospital is expected to be complete in the next two years and create employment for more than 300 people.

Cambodian PM Hun Sen also praised the project and the cooperation of the Vietnamese government and Ho Chi Minh authorities to realize it. The hospital not only helps Cambodian people save money and time that they would have had to spend on treatment abroad, but also create an opportunity for local doctors to work with their peers at Cho Ray hospital in Ho Chi Minh city, thereby improving their professional skills, he added.

Earlier on May 14, the Vietnamese-invested Bank of Investment and Development of Cambodia (BIDC) handed over a floating school on Bien Ho lake to overseas Vietnamese living in Chhnok Trou commune, Boribo district of Kampong Chhnang province.