Healthcare offerings to boost Hainan

Hainan will bring forth innovative healthcare products to meet consumer demand, and speed up the development of the healthcare industry to make the island a health and longevity island, according to a plan recently released by local authorities.

Hainan authorities said it will make full use of the advantages of the preferential policies granted to the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, which was approved by the State Council in 2013. It will also accelerate infrastructure construction to attract more high-end medical healthcare projects and establish the zone as a platform providing world-class international medical technical services.

Xia Feng, deputy director of the China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and Development, said: "The pilot zone is expected to ease the conflicts between strong tourist demand for high-end medical services and the shortage of local medical care services. It will also help promote the industrial convergence of the medical tourism, real estate, exhibition and convention, and education sectors."

Traditional Chinese medicine will be developed in depth as a medical tourism product and as a new complementary step forward for the high-end medical tourism industry. TCM healthcare tourism demonstration zones in Sanya and Haikou are producing moving stories as overseas tourists' health conditions improve after receiving local TCM services.

Hainan, especially its southern coastal city of Sanya, has gained worldwide fame for its TCM services. Every year thousands of tourists who visit Sanya receive TCM treatment, particularly those from Russian-speaking countries with a frigid climate.

By 2020, the healthcare industry is expected to create an output value of 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion), comprising 5 percent of the province's gross domestic product, according to the development plan by Hainan authorities.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/28/2017 page12)