China Eastern Airlines has planned to operate flights from Bangladesh鈥檚 port city of Chittagong to Kunming to help people from the country鈥檚 east to take treatment in hospitals in the southern Chinese city, officials said on Saturday.
China has already dedicated four Kunming hospitals for the treatment of patients from Bangladesh, but the high air ticket cost is seen as a major impediment to travel to the Chinese city.
Officials said that the planned flights between Kunming and Chittagong would bring down travel costs and travel time, paving the way for more Bangladeshis accessing healthcare facilities in China.
Nazmul Islam, Bangladesh ambassador to China, said that the authorities in Kunming had dedicated hospital floors for Bangladeshi people.
鈥楾he treatment fees are modest and a patient from Bangladesh pays the same fees as paid by local Chinese people,鈥� the chief adviser鈥檚 press wing said in a release on Saturday quoting the ambassador as saying.
The announcement came at a time when Bangladesh interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus was visiting China.
The chief adviser, who arrived in China on a four-day bilateral visit on March 26, returned home on Saturday evening.
To expedite travel to Kunming, the civil aviation authorities in Dhaka have also moved to cut the air ticket cost for flights between Dhaka and Kunming, according to the release.
Chinese authorities have said that they will open up more healthcare facilities in the country for the Bangladeshi people.
In April, Bangladesh will also send a big team of journalists to Kunming to see for themselves the treatment facilities there, the release said.
Last month, dozens of Bangladeshis travelled to Kunming for the first time for treatment.
They spoke highly of the standard of hospitals there, but several of them complained of travel costs, according to the CA鈥檚 press wing release.
On February 18, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen said in Dhaka that聽 travel agencies concerned would offer 鈥榩ackage service鈥� incorporating visa processing and all other costs for these intending to travel to Kunming for treatment.聽
He also said that China was awaiting a specific proposal for establishing a hospital in Dhaka.
