More overseas patients choosing Shanghai hospitals for treatment
More patients from overseas are choosing to receive treatment in Shanghai after the city kicked off a pilot scheme to encourage local hospitals to step up efforts in offering international medical tourism products and streamlined health services.
Local medical facilities have served 4,128 hospitalized foreign patients and people from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau in the first half of this year, 24.3 percent more than the same period last year.
The Shanghai Health Commission has designated 13 leading public hospitals and 20 private hospitals as pilot facilities, which, especially public ones, have outstanding medical capabilities, innovative needs, and foreign service experiences.
The city government offered the 13 public hospitals plates with "Shanghai International Medical Tourism Pilot Institution of Public Hospital" on Thursday and made a periodic summary after the pilot scheme kicked off late last year.
"Enhancing medical tourism not only expands the city's opening-up but also boosts the business environment. It is a measure to help build Shanghai's international image to attract more high-quality talent, enterprises and investment home and abroad," said Vice Mayor Chen Yujian. "Local hospitals are facing a big market of both expatriates living in the city as well as travelers, who may go all the way here for medical service."
He said the city government is teaming up with the local health commission and administration of culture and tourism to encourage tourism agencies to develop new medical tourism packages.
The commission has also developed an international medical service standard to govern and improve Shanghai's high-end healthcare. The standard is the first of its kind in the nation to regulate the practice and enhance the quality of international medical services.
A patient from Papua New Guinea visited Zhongshan Hospital for a consultation with Dr Zhou Pinghong (fourth from left), a leading expert in endoscopic treatment.
Local public hospitals said the pilot scheme offers them more incentives and opportunities. The international medical department of all the 13 public hospitals offered 133,900 outpatient and emergency services as well as 8,700 hospitalized services in the first quarter this year, rising by 31 percent and 28 percent respectively compared to the same period last year. The commercial insurance settlement also rose significantly.
In the second quarter, they offered 162,900 outpatient, emergency and hospitalized services,15 percent more than the previous quarter.
Many foreign patients with serious or complicated problems travel all the way to Shanghai for diagnosis and treatment.
A 2-year-old Polish boy, his family and medical staff at Shanghai Children's Medical Center pictured after successful liver cancer surgery early this year.
The Children's Hospital of Fudan University served five children with complicated diseases from countries that included Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan. Shanghai Children's Medical Center received a Polish child with liver cancer and Huashan Hospital received a Swedish patient with autoimmune encephalitis. All patients reported positive results after treatment.
The treatment of the Polish patient received recognition and appreciation from Poland's First Lady when she learned about the case during a visit to the hospital in June.
Officials from Xinhua Hospital, one of the 13, said it had received patients from a dozen countries and regions since the launch of the pilot program. Treatments for foreign patients involved complicated spinal curvature, in utero diagnosis and treatment, pediatric surgery and children's tumors.
Its international medical department has established a one-stop service model from visa support, multiple language ability, medical service and settlement support.
A 14-year-old Russian girl and her mother with medical staff at Xinhua Hospital. She is undergoing a 2-year treatment for a rare type of eye cancer with visits to Shanghai each month.
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