Digital Medical Consortium Accelerates in Kedong County, Heilongjiang: 'Mobile Hospitals' Bring Healthcare to Residents' Doorsteps

Residents of Kedong County, Heilongjiang Province, are poised to enjoy convenient medical and health services right at their doorstep. On November 22, a handover ceremony for the “Digital Medical Community” project was held in Kedong County, during which seven cloud-based mobile clinic vehicles were officially delivered to township health centers (community health service centers) across the county. These vehicles will support grassroots healthcare institutions in providing convenient and beneficial “Internet + Healthcare” services, including health examinations, remote consultations, and family doctor contract services.

Meng Xiangyuan, Deputy County Mayor of Kedong County People’s Government; Wang Yufeng, Party Secretary and Director of the Kedong County Health Commission; Fei Haihe, Deputy Director of the Kedong County Health Commission; leading officials from the medical consortiums headed by Kedong County People’s Hospital and Kedong County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital; directors of township health centers and community health service centers; relevant professional staff; and representatives from Weiyi Group attended the ceremony.

Seven Cloud Mobile Clinic Vehicles Distributed to Grassroots Levels

It is reported that the Cloud Medical Examination Vehicle, known as a "mobile hospital" at people's doorsteps, was developed by WeDoctor, an internationally leading digital health platform. It can assist in completing 53 specific tests across seven major categories, including blood pressure measurement, ultrasound, and electrocardiogram (ECG), effectively bringing the capabilities of a secondary-level hospital to residents' doorsteps. Data can be uploaded in real time, enabling "grassroots examinations for residents and expert diagnoses in urban centers."

As one of the implementation projects of Kedong County’s “Digital Medical Consortium,” all six township health centers and one community health service center in the county have been equipped with intelligent devices such as cloud-based mobile consultation vehicles and cloud-based portable consultation kits, facilitating service delivery by grassroots physicians. Chen Hua (a pseudonym) and his spouse from Yugang Town experienced the convenience of the cloud-based portable consultation kit at home for the first time. Both suffer from hypertension, and their family doctors are Pei Changhao, a physician at the township health center, and Liu Shuhui, the village doctor. “In the past, home visits were limited to basic examinations using the ‘traditional three items.’ Now, a single ‘kit’ can measure over ten parameters, including blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation. The data is automatically saved, eliminating the need for repetitive manual records, which allows us to spend more time educating patients on blood pressure management.”

In addition to the cloud-based mobile clinic kits, known as the “barefoot doctors of the 21st century,” primary healthcare institutions in Kedong County are welcoming another “valuable assistant”—teleconsultation. Liang Keyu, a general practitioner at Yugang Town Central Health Center, recently admitted a 70-year-old patient with cerebral infarction. The patient returned to the health center for rehabilitation after receiving treatment at a higher-level hospital. However, due to the complexity of the condition, assistance from more experienced specialists was required to formulate a rehabilitation plan. On the day of the launch ceremony, through the teleconsultation system established under the medical consortium initiative, Dr. Liang and the patient “met” with Liu Degang, Vice President of Clinical Operations, and Ruan Xuguang, Director of the Internal Medicine Department, at the Kedong County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Under the guidance of these experts, a rehabilitation plan was finalized.

Primary Care Physicians Are Conducting Remote Consultations

The gradual adoption of intelligent “assistants” at the grassroots level stems from the “Digital Medical Consortium” jointly established by Kedong County and WeDoctor Group. The Digital Medical Consortium is a tightly integrated medical consortium centered on health, supported by digital platforms, and designed to integrate regional medical resources to achieve complementary advantages and shared development. The National Health Commission’s Guiding Plan for Pilot Programs on Building Tightly Integrated County-Level Medical Consortia explicitly calls for strengthening informatization construction to enhance the collaborative service capabilities of healthcare institutions and the level of government oversight.

In September this year, the Kedong County People's Government, the County Health Bureau, and Weiyi Group officially launched the construction of the "Digital Medical Consortium" in Kedong County. As a national pilot county for the construction of close-knit medical consortia and a demonstration county in Qiqihar City, Kedong County has continuously innovated its service models by establishing two county-level medical consortia led by the County People's Hospital and the County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. Leveraging Weiyi Group’s advantages in the digital health sector, the county has innovatively introduced the "Mobile Hospital" cloud clinic vehicle and the "21st Century Barefoot Doctor" cloud clinic kit, gradually building an integrated healthcare service system characterized by resource sharing, coordinated promotion, harmonious development, and mutual improvement.

At the ceremony, Meng Xiangyuan stated that the vigorous advancement of Kedong County’s “Digital Medical Consortium” project plays a crucial supporting role in the development of the county’s health and healthcare sector. It will significantly elevate the overall medical standards across the county. She emphasized the need to accelerate the establishment of a new model of integrated medical and preventive health services, optimize the allocation of medical resources, and precisely address multi-level, diverse, and personalized health needs, thereby fulfilling the comprehensive, full-cycle health needs of the grassroots population.

“We are accelerating the deployment of innovative applications at the grassroots level, such as cloud-based mobile clinics, remote consultations, and remote ECG services, to further enhance operational efficiency and service quality in primary healthcare,” stated Wang Yufeng. He added that Kedong County’s “Digital Medical Consortium” will next focus on fully integrating the three-tier medical network spanning county, township, and village levels. It aims to build innovative platforms including a tiered diagnosis and treatment system, the Kedong WeDoctor Internet Hospital, and the Kedong Health Portal, while gradually exploring the establishment of a digital service system for chronic disease management at the county level. These efforts are designed to achieve the “Healthy Kedong” goal of “improved public health and citizen satisfaction.”