Australian start up targets Chinese medical tourists

An Australian/Chinese partnership seeks to turn online medical opinions into Chinese medical tourists. Coyiu, backed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has partnered with SunWo Medical Management,

An Australian/Chinese partnership seeks to turn online medical opinions into Chinese medical tourists going to Australia.

Australia could soon become a destination for Chinese medical tourists after an Australian start-up company joined forces with a Chinese medical service provider.

Coyiu, a start-up company backed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has partnered with SunWo Medical Management, a Chinese company that provides medical tourism services to Chinese citizens.

Coyiu will use its audio-video platform to perform digital delivery of medical consultations to prospective Chinese patients, who wish to get better quality medical treatment. Australia seeks to sell its expertise in cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes.

SunWo will move from using online video conferencing via Skype to connect patients with doctors, to using Coyiu’s platform that offers better audio-video quality, while allowing patients and doctors to live-share medical data and imaging during consultations.

The hope is that if they are happy with the online service, then Chinese patients will consider going to Australia for treatment. But there is no global evidence that online advice means that patients go to the country where the advice is from, so the hope is only that.