North China's Shanxi Province has begun a training program for Afghan hospital administrators and medics.

It will train 64 Afghans within the next two years, and 19 of them are already training in the province, its health department said on Saturday.

The length of their training will range from two weeks to one year, said Yang Cheng, director of the department's international exchange center.

According to Yang, hospitals involved in the program are all rated first class under China's national categorization system, and all the trainers will teach in English.

Shanxi has undertaken international medical training organized by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce since 1998 and has trained around 1,340 medical staff from more than 200 countries over the past 17 years.