La Vie International Hospital, a hospital for Vietnamese expatriates in Laos, was inaugurated in Vientiane on November 18. The hospital has been licensed by the Lao Ministry of Health to provide medical services for Vietnamese nationals residing, working, and studying in Laos, as well as for Lao residents. The 50-bed facility has been designed to focus on cardiology and endocrinology. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Deputy Governor of Vientiane Phukhong Bannavong said that the hospital's operation is of great significance to the health sector of Laos in particular and its economic development in general. The opening of the hospital shows the close bond between Laos and Vietnam that has been strengthened over the past decades, he said. Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung said that the coming into being of the hospital holds a very important significance to the healthcare sector of Vientiane and the Vietnamese community there. The hospital has signed a cooperation deal with the Associatio n for Liaison with Overseas Vietnamese (ALOV) and the Hanoi Medical University Hospital to provide medical services for the Vietnamese community in Laos, and Lao people in need of medical examination and treatment. According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu, director of the Hanoi Medical University Hospital, the new hospital is a leading cardiovascular facility with a modern angiography system that supports in-depth diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases as well as many other vascular diseases to save the lives of patients suffering from myocardial infarction and stroke. He pledged to provide maximum professional support to the hospital in performing its operation./. Source: Vietnam News Agency