Health Reform Highlights International Medical Service And Categorized Care

Shanghai plans to build itself into a world-leading medical center through efforts in the next five to ten years and international medical tourism will be an important part of the campaign, officials from the Shanghai Health Commission said while honoring this year's best medical reform measures.

"To further streamline international medical tourism, we are discussing with the local exit and entry authority about issuing a special health visa allowing foreigners to stay in the city for medical treatment instead of a tourist visa," said Wen Daxiang, director of the commission.

"The convenience of visa application is very important to attract foreigners to come to Shanghai for health care."

Innovative medical reform measures like international medical service, a categorized health care system, better grassroots health service, boosting artificial intelligence (AI) assistance and digital medicine, support for commercial insurance, and promotion of integrated Western and traditional Chinese medicine were all honored by the city government.

"We will further improve the medical capability of community health centers for the convenience of residents. After adding rehabilitation, small surgery and dental care, we plan to promote mental health services at grassroots facilities in the near future," Wen added.

Leading public hospitals are offering guidance and support to community health centers, allowing people to receive high-end service there instead of going all the way to crowded big hospitals. Such measures are highlighted in the medical reform measures.

An innovative measure of allocating half of the outpatients quota from leading hospitals to community health centers five days in advance for online reservations was the top medical reform that was honored.

Under the measure, patients can receive primary evaluations from GPs, who then determine whether they require senior specialist services, recommend the most appropriate doctors, and reserve patient quotas online. Top hospitals have a quota of regular, specialist, and VIP clinics.

Directors of local community health centers said they have the professional ability to serve foreigners and doctors are equipped with proper bilingual capability.