Healthy China 2030 is one of China’s development strategies which includes China–Africa public health cooperation projects. This longer term political and economic closeness could mean that for people from certain countries, their first choice medical treatment option will be either to travel to China, or to a Chinese owned hospital in their own country.  Ian Youngman investigates.

There are 35,000 hospitals in China including 21,000 private hospitals on China’s mainland and 14,000 public hospitals, plus half a million clinics. When looking at the largest hospitals in the world, by number of beds, according to a July 2021 list by Healthcare Global, two are in China.

First place on this list is First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzou University, comfortably the biggest hospital in the world by number of beds; it currently has around 7,000. At number two is West China Medical Centre, founded in 1910 by Christian missionary groups from the UK, US and Canada. The hospital, which merged with Sichuan University in 2000, has 4,300 beds.

More broadly in healthcare in the last 15 years, much work has been done in China to enhance the technology of artificial intelligence, big data, augmented and virtual reality, and telemedicine. China and Asia are now more advanced than the West in certain aspects of technology.

Exporting China’s healthcare

China has developed strong political and economic links with countries in Asia and Africa, plus many thousands of Chinese now work abroad, following the global expansion of Chinese companies globally.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the biggest infrastructure project in the world seeking to connect countries around the globe.  There were plans for pipelines and a port in Pakistan, bridges in Bangladesh and railways to Russia – all with the aim of creating what China calls a “modern Silk Road” trading route to kick start a new era of globalisation.

Apart from infrastructure investment, BRI is set to benefit many industries and countries through increased trade and cooperation in other sectors. The new connections fostered by the BRI could reconfigure relationships, reroute economic activity, and shift power within and between countries.

BRI is a real hope for many African countries to fill their own infrastructure gap, with less cost and in a more efficient way. 40 of 55 African countries have signed some sort of memorandum of understanding or other agreement on the BRI.

Due to the rapid development of China’s healthcare industry, China will establish a cross-border telemedicine service network with neighbouring countries, carry out teaching, research and personnel exchanges, and form mechanisms such as remote consultation platforms.

What does this mean for medical travel?

In the global medical tourism industry, the market occupied by China is very small.  Apart from the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, China does not market itself as a medical travel destination.  Hainan is the only medical tourism zone in China approved by the State Council.

However, while the US and Europe continue to seek outbound Chinese medical travellers, China is looking to the longer term.  With its connections worldwide and improving healthcare at home, the country sees inbound medical travel as a means of supporting “Healthy China”.

Pakistan, for example, is moving politically, socially and economically closer to China. The China Pakistan Medical Association has argued that there is huge potential for Pakistan patients going to China for treatment. Numbers are low due to Covid-19, visa issues, and lack of flights, but these are seen as short-term problems.

The association wants China to set up a platform that provides medical knowledge to other counties about which kind of diseases and problems can be treated in China.