First 'cloud hospital' created to harness power of Internet for medicine

The country's first Cloud Hospital, which will use the Internet to provide better medical treatment and services outside of China's big cities, has been established by First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University and Shanghai Hefu Investment Group.

The two will partner with the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China to create the hospital in the following months, according to an agreement signed on Wednesday in the Guangdong provincial capital.

He Jianxing, the hospital's president, said the Cloud Hospital will help his hospital reach patients in small and mid-sized cities and counties.

The hospital is currently constructing a branch hospital with 6,000 to 7,000 inpatient beds to meet growing demands, and the cloud and Internet plus platforms and technologies will help it improve its management and services, He said.

Zhou Jinting, chairman of board of Hefu Investment, a private scientific and technological company, said the Cloud Hospital is expected to help overcome problems of disproportionate medical resources on the mainland and offer good medical treatment and service to areas where economic development has lagged.

The agreement was signed at the headquarters of He's hospital, which is known for the treatment of respiratory tract diseases.