Italy will provide a mobile hospital to China to help with the quake relief work, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The hospital includes five tents, a generator and a full set of equipment necessary for sophisticated surgeries.

The mobile hospital, together with 110 tents, will arrived in Chengdu, capital of quake-hit Sichuan province at 10:20 p.m. Thursday aboard a chartered plane, the ministry said.

Italian ambassador to China Riccardo Sessa will fly to Chengdu to oversee the delivery, said the ministry.

Italy has already provided 1 million euros (1.57 million U.S. dollars) in cash and 1.5 million euros worth of relief materials to China's quake zone.

Sixteen Italian medical workers will work at the mobile hospital. Some of them have already arrived in Chengdu Tuesday.

The Italian medical team and the mobile hospital will be deployed in Shifang city, one of the worst-hit areas.

The Italian medical team will work in China for a few weeks, after which the mobile hospital will be handed over to China, the ministry said.

Two Italian relief flights arrived in Chengdu on May 18. The first carried 240 large all-weather tents, weighing 43 tons. These tents have already been sent to Mianyang and Deyang cities, where they are used as makeshift schools.

The second flight delivered 60 tents, 5,000 blankets, 3.4 tons of medical equipment and 3.76 tons of high-energy biscuits, which have been sent to Aba Prefecture.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)