The main hospital in Cabo Verde, the Agostinho Neto University Hospital in the capital, Praia, will begin next Monday offering its patients acupuncture, Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government-run news agency quotes Agostinho Neto University Hospital Director Imadoeno Cabral as saying administration of acupuncture there would be impossible without the donation by Chinese healthcare workers at the hospital of the necessary equipment and supplies, which were turned over on Tuesday.

Mr Cabral said the donation was a manifestation of Sino-Cabo Verdean friendship and solidarity.

The Chinese healthcare workers help the hospital do its work, and pass on to their Cabo Verdean counterparts lessons that experience has taught them, Xinhua quotes Mr Cabral as saying.