Yizhan Medical Group Advances Belt and Road Tech-Driven Healthcare Export with Landmark China-Arab States Expo Agreement

On September 6, 2019, at the opening ceremony of the China-Arab States Expo “Internet + Medical Health” Industry Exhibition and Application Conference, the Health Commission of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Thailand-China ASEAN Economic and Trade Promotion Association, and Yizhan Medical Group jointly signed the Strategic Framework Agreement on Technology Service Export and “Internet + Medical Health” Demonstration. This agreement represents a significant achievement in translating Ningxia’s advancements in medical imaging within the “Internet + Medical Health” sector into tangible outcomes, and serves as a key milestone in China’s export of high-tech medical services to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Health Commission of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has fully leveraged its pioneering role and policy advantages as a national demonstration zone for “Internet + Healthcare,” achieving significant results in enhancing medical services through “Internet+” technologies. The Thai-Chinese ASEAN Economic and Trade Promotion Association is an economic and trade exchange organization approved by the Ministry of Interior of Thailand. Yizhan Medical Group is a local, innovative tech-healthcare unicorn enterprise with fully independent intellectual property rights for its medical imaging cloud platform and artificial intelligence products. Its core product, “Cloud Imaging,” is providing advanced technological healthcare services—including remote diagnostic tools, regional data sharing, quality control, big data, and artificial intelligence—to countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

This tripartite signing will facilitate the establishment of a platform for technical exchange and cooperation in telemedicine between Ningxia and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), foster closer healthcare collaboration mechanisms between Ningxia and BRI nations, advance pragmatic industrial cooperation between China and Thailand in the “Internet + Healthcare” sector, expand the international influence and reach of Ningxia’s “Internet + Healthcare” demonstration zone, promote cross-border and cross-regional exchanges and cooperation in “Internet + Healthcare,” achieve successful commercial implementation, and generate significant social and economic benefits.

Yizhan Medical Group will leverage its practical experience in establishing the “Internet + Healthcare” demonstration zone to promote the Yizhan Smart Medical Imaging Ecosystem to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. It will export high-quality imaging cloud platform tools, big data management tools, artificial intelligence platforms, training platforms, as well as advanced intelligent radiological diagnostic technologies and services. This initiative aims to address local challenges in medical cloud platform construction, achieve regional quality control, improve referral pathways, implement AI platform applications, and explore the establishment of regional medical imaging big data centers, thereby fostering commercial, technological, and “Internet + Healthcare” service exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.

As one of the signatories, Yizhan Medical Group, established in 2009, is a high-tech medical enterprise in China. Over a decade of deep engagement in the field of medical imaging has enabled it to develop a unique, comprehensive ecosystem for medical imaging. Its core product, “Cloud Imaging,” provides radiologists with professional online image viewing and remote diagnostic reporting tools. By leveraging mobile internet technology, it connects traditional silos of medical imaging data, optimizes resource allocation, and facilitates efficient and rapid connectivity between equipment and physicians. This approach fundamentally addresses the pain points in imaging diagnosis, thereby improving both accuracy and diagnostic speed.

In August 2017, under the guidance and support of the Health Commission of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the Health Commission of Yinchuan City, Wingtech joined hands with Yinchuan First People’s Hospital to establish Ningxia’s first remote medical imaging diagnosis center. Leveraging the Wingtech Cloud Imaging Diagnosis Platform, the center effectively delivers high-quality medical resources to a broad patient population, providing superior and convenient remote medical imaging diagnostic services. It guides patients to seek medical care in an orderly manner, promotes the implementation of tiered diagnosis and treatment, and addresses the weakness in medical imaging diagnostic capabilities at secondary hospitals and below. To date, the center has been in operation for over 740 days, with two sub-centers established in Lingwu City and Yongning County. It has connected more than 180 medical institutions across Ningxia and Alxa League in Inner Mongolia, safeguarding the health of the people in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region through over 320,000 diagnoses, thereby fulfilling its commitment to ensuring universal access to high-level medical imaging diagnostics. Given the center’s demonstrative role in China’s “Internet + Healthcare” initiative and medical consortium reforms, national leaders have visited the center on multiple occasions and given it full affirmation.

Based on “CloudShadow,” Yizhan has built an open AI collaboration platform that rapidly enhances physicians’ existing diagnostic capabilities, thereby addressing core industry challenges from the supply side—namely, insufficient output of physicians’ core diagnostic capabilities and the scarcity of high-level medical imaging diagnostics. The platform integrates Yizhan’s self-developed and globally leading AI applications, leveraging Yizhan’s strong channel resource advantages to accelerate the adoption and deployment of AI products. Meanwhile, AI developers, healthcare professionals, and medical institutions can fully participate in the R&D of AI products, with multi-party collaboration making these AI solutions more efficient. Currently launched applications on the platform include: an automated reporting system for DR chest radiographs, automatic annotation and analysis of pulmonary nodules in CT scans, intelligent text error correction, and MRI plaque imaging solutions.

The application of artificial intelligence technologies on cloud platforms not only delivers high-quality medical services to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, but also exports advanced “Chinese medical technology” globally while meeting domestic demand, thereby embodying the sense of responsibility and mission aligned with President Xi’s vision of a “Community with a Shared Future for Mankind.”

It is reported that in 2018, Yizhan Medical Group partnered with China Merchants Shekou and Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University to establish the Belt and Road Remote Imaging Diagnosis Platform. This platform provides remote medical services, including expert teleconsultations and online imaging diagnostics, to medical facilities in 46 overseas port cities operated by China Merchants Shekou, thereby effectively enhancing local healthcare capabilities. The platform has now become a key tool for improving medical imaging diagnostic capabilities in countries along the Belt and Road.

The tripartite signing agreement among the Health Commission of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Thai-Chinese ASEAN Economic and Trade Promotion Association, and Yizhan Medical Group will further leverage the Belt and Road Initiative to export China’s advanced medical capabilities globally, enable people worldwide to access high-quality healthcare services, promote the building of a global community of health through enhanced connectivity, and contribute significant Chinese strength to the development of global healthcare.