more than 3,000 people took advantage of The Free Medical Care offered by the Chinese naval hospital ship the peace Ark while it ducked in Cape Town's table Bay Harbor for a week I found about this ship um on social media and on the radio as well and I think it's a a good thing that they came here to help us because our uh government I don't think they are doing enough for uh for health issues only 16% of South Africans can afford private healthcare most South Africans go to government funded facilities that are often underresourced and where there is a backlog of patients who need surgeries on board members of the South African military health services worked with more than 100 of the ship staff nurses and doctors from the ship also worked at several government hospitals in Cape Town on procedures such as cataract operations says South African military's chinwa EST moal we know that um uh everything is very costly and to actually afford a medical aid cover for some people it's a dream that they couldn't reach during the visit a number of surgeries were carried out but they made a small dent in the thousands of backlogged cases nandam dweni came to the ship for help with her acne um the service that they've been offering has been good excellent short period of time that we have to wait so the cues moving very fast besides Western medicine doctors also offer traditional Chinese medicine the ship has been providing Medical Care since 2010 some analysts see the ship as part of China's competition with the US for influence in Africa and a way of countering allegations from Washington and rights organizations about China's human rights abuses the larger goal is to win hearts and Minds in the court of public opinion says analyst for the Institute for security studies Peter Fus it is part of soft power and soft power is was sometimes also called hearts and Minds you know when the military uses nonlethal means of trying to win over support to their cause so yeah it's and it's quite I would think probably quite effective Leo pong Yu spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington says it's about helping others the peace Arc hospital ship visited many African countries to bring Health to people in need of help the relevant actions are an important part of China Africa Health Corporation and also reflect China's active fulfillment of international humanitarian obligations the hospital ship's next stop is Angola Vicky stock vaa news Cape Town South Africa