The Chinese capital Beijing plans to train 2,500 more nurses for urban communities and rural villages in the next two years to have every 2,000 residents cared by a community nurse by 2008, according to municipal health sources.

The city issued on Sunday qualifications for another 1,743 community nurses who had passed both theory and skill exams after training organized by local heath authorities, bringing the number of its qualified community nurses to 5,500.

The community nurses will work in health service centers or hospitals for urban communities or rural villages, said a spokesman with the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

With a population of 15 million, Beijing is the first in the country to conduct organized training for community nurses, according to the bureau.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2006)