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Two Beijing-based Red Cross departments signed a cooperative agreement with the international SOS assistance center recently in an effort to offer professional medical and health care services to residents and overseas visitors.

The first group of ambulances, marked "SOS+999", were put into operation on August 27.

Patients can get swift medical attention by dialing the phone number "999" in Beijing. The system offers multilingual services for foreigners.

The cooperation will contribute to the updating Beijing's emergency system, ambulances and telecommunications facilities, and improve medical services and personnel training, according to the agreement. It will be in operation for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The new first aid system combines Chinese traditional medicine with Western methods, and is expected to enhance Beijing's overall first-aid services, a senior officer with the SOS center said.

The international SOS assistance center established its first office here in 1989, with assistance from the Beijing Red Cross Society. From 1995, it began to offer emergency medical attention to foreigners in Beijing. Last year, 35 first-aid stations under the center were put into operation, helping over 50,000 patients to date.