Lenín Moreno (4th, R), President of the Republic of Ecuador, poses for a group photo with members of the inspection group and leaders of the hospital on Nov 19. [Photo/WeChat account of SUMEC]

Lenín Moreno, President of the Republic of Ecuador, inspected a general hospital in the county of Durán on Nov 19, which was undertaken by SUMEC Complete Equipment & Engineering Co (SUMEC CEEC), affiliated to SUMEC Group Corporation, a subsidiary of Sinomach. The inspection was to investigate the hospital’s construction progress and epidemic prevention and control work.

To that end Moreno visited both outpatient and emergency departments. He said that in the current severe pandemic situation, the project team should ensure the safety and health of employees and promote the smooth delivery of the hospital, emphasizing the importance of safe production and epidemic prevention and control. The name “Dr. Enrique Ortega Moreira” was given to the local general hospital during the president’s inspection tour.

A representative of Hospital General Dr. Enrique Ortega Moreira extends a warm welcome to President Moreno (2rd, L) on Nov 19. [Photo/ WeChat account of SUMEC]

Moreno expressed his gratitude to the Chinese side for helping build Ecuador’s medical infrastructure with advanced technologies and creating jobs for local people.

He noted that the project manifests the close ties between China and Ecuador, and added that the hospital once completed will greatly benefit residents of Durán and surrounding areas by means of providing effective medical care.

As an important people-benefit project in Durán, the hospital covers an area of 36,000 square meters including 11,000 square meters of buildings, and is equipped with 15 departments. SUMEC CEEC is in charge of project construction and supplies and installs auxiliary equipment.

At present, the project’s main work has been completed, and its interior fittings are underway, with delivery to the owner scheduled for May 2021. As the largest general hospital in the area, it will serve two million people and provide 400 jobs.

Following Ecuador’s declaration of the state of emergency in March, the hospital’s construction stopped as required. After returning to work in May the project team tailored scientific and effective anti-epidemic measures for epidemic prevention and work resumption. No infection occurred among the Chinese employees and over 300 local employees of the project in the midst of a locally rampant epidemic, which was highly recognized by the local government.

With a strong sense of social responsibility, SUMEC CEEC also donated masks and protective suits to help the local government protect children, the impoverished and medical workers in Durán, helping contain the local epidemic.

In December 2018, Moreno visited China and, on behalf of Ecuador, signed a memorandum of understanding on co-building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which marked that Ecuador is participating in working out the great blueprint for global development.

SUMEC has always explored the development opportunities rooted in countries and regions involved in the BRI, improved its localized management and specialized operations, and developed the international engineering market.

In the future, SUMEC will continue to integrate existing resources of good quality at home and abroad, especially in the BRI-involved countries and regions, build a more efficient and stable industry supply chain, and promote high quality project execution, fostering the economic and social development of those countries and regions. It will also be committed to the new “dual circulation” development pattern in which domestic circulation will act as the mainstay while domestic and international circulation will reinforce each other.