China's First Provincial Internet Hospital for Women and Children's Health: A Deep Dive into Its Construction and Strategic Vision by Dr. Huang Hanlin, President of Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital

In the internet healthcare industry, maternal and child health—a vertical sector with considerable depth and breadth—remains a popular focus. This is driven by two main factors: first, the substantial demand for medical and health services among women and children; second, the further expansion of the internet healthcare market in this segment following the relaxation of the two-child policy.

In this booming sector, traditional maternal and child health hospitals are keeping pace with startups. As a pioneer, Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital has established China’s first provincial-level internet hospital platform dedicated to women’s and children’s health. This platform also serves as the Women’s and Children’s Health Service Base of the WeDoctor Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform.

To gain an authentic understanding of the platform’s development, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) interviewed Huang Hanlin, President of Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, to further explore the Guangdong Provincial Internet Hospital for Women’s and Children’s Health and the Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform.

In fact, since its establishment in 1944, Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital has been a specialized public maternal and child health institution under the auspices of the Guangdong Provincial Government, consistently upholding its commitment to social welfare and industry leadership.

After more than 70 years of development, it has become a large Grade A tertiary hospital integrating healthcare, medical treatment, teaching, scientific research, training, and technical guidance. In 2013, with the approval of its superior administrative authorities, it was additionally designated as Guangdong Provincial Maternity Hospital and Guangdong Provincial Children’s Hospital. Currently, it serves as a teaching and affiliated hospital for eight ministries- and province-administered universities, including Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University, and Guangzhou Medical University, and has established a strategic partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School, which is ranked first in the United States.

In recent years, as healthcare reform has entered a critical and complex phase, the Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital has continuously strengthened its disciplinary development and fully leveraged its role as the provincial center for technical guidance in maternal and child health services. The hospital’s capacity to manage acute and critical conditions has been steadily enhanced, with its capabilities in neonatal care, prenatal diagnosis, gynecological endoscopy, and assisted reproduction ranking among the leading or advanced levels nationwide. It ranks among the top three provincial-level institutions in the comprehensive capability assessment published by the National Center for Women and Children’s Health. The hospital has successively received numerous honors, including “Top Ten Humanistic Healthcare Hospitals of the Year” in the Healthy China General Evaluation, “National Demonstration Hospital for Improving Medical Services,” and “Outstanding Collective in the National ‘Safe Hospital’ Creation Campaign (2013–2017).” It has made outstanding contributions to safeguarding the physical health of women and children and advancing the cause of maternal and child health throughout the province.

Meanwhile, following the relaxation of China's two-child policy, the country experienced a significant baby boom.

With the adjustment of national fertility policies, a significant baby boom has emerged, accompanied by a rising number of high-risk pregnancies, including those involving advanced maternal age, scarred uterus, and severe medical or surgical complications during pregnancy. In response to this trend, the Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Association established the Professional Committee on High-Risk Pregnancy Management in September 2017. As the leading institution of this committee, Guangdong Women and Children Hospital will leverage the committee to establish loose-form medical alliances with municipal-level secondary maternal and child health hospitals. Through this framework, collaborative initiatives—including training programs, expert consultations, and the on-site deployment of senior professionals—will be implemented to extend high-quality maternal and child health resources to eastern, western, and northern Guangdong, as well as the areas surrounding Guangzhou. This effort aims to build a robust healthcare safeguard system, reduce the incidence of adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes across the province, and contribute to the goal of establishing Guangdong as a healthy and strong province.

Therefore, on October 30, 2017, Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital and the People’s Government of Jinping District, Shantou City, jointly signed the “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement” to establish a closely integrated medical consortium. The People’s Government of Jinping District, Shantou City, entrusted the management and operation of the Jinping District Maternal and Child Health Hospital to Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, with the aim of building the Guangdong Provincial High-Risk Maternal Rescue Center (Eastern Guangdong Branch) and the Guangdong Provincial Neonatal Rescue Center (Eastern Guangdong Branch). On January 26, 2018, the Eastern Guangdong Branches of the Guangdong Provincial High-Risk Maternal Rescue Center and the Neonatal Rescue Center were officially unveiled and commenced operations.

Over the following year, Guangdong Women and Children’s Hospital established medical consortium partnerships with 15 municipal-level maternal and child health hospitals, including Huizhou Second Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Zhaoqing Duanzhou District Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Heyuan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and Chaozhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Leveraging the hospital’s technical strengths in specialty disciplines and integrating specialized expertise from partner institutions, it created 91 specialty alliances, such as the Breast Disease Specialty Alliance, Reproductive Health and Infertility Specialty Alliance, Birth Defects and Prenatal Diagnosis Specialty Alliance, Maternal and Child Health Laboratory Medicine Specialty Alliance, Cervical Disease Specialty Alliance, and Neonatal Critical Care Specialty Alliance. These initiatives established several regional specialty centers, enhanced the capacity to manage major specialty-related diseases, and optimized the utilization of existing medical resources across the region.

Establishing medical consortia is a crucial measure for optimizing healthcare resource allocation and promoting tiered diagnosis and treatment. Relying on the effective operation of hospitals within the consortium, the Medical Consortium of Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital has facilitated the transfer of advanced medical technologies from provincial-level tertiary hospitals to primary care institutions. This has enhanced the technical capabilities and management standards of grassroots hospitals, enabling the majority of residents to access high-quality provincial-level medical resources without leaving their counties or cities. Furthermore, this model allows provincial-level hospitals to concentrate their efforts on treating critically ill patients, while common diseases are managed at county- and district-level hospitals, and patients in recovery are referred back to community health service centers. By establishing a rational division of labor within the region, the consortium collectively meets the diverse healthcare needs of the population in Guangdong Province.

Establishing medical consortia is merely the beginning. While informatization within these consortia serves as a crucial mechanism for implementing tiered diagnosis and treatment, it presents significant challenges. Hospitals vary widely in their technological infrastructure, proficiency levels, and data standards; the lack of interoperable interfaces hinders data sharing. Although ostensibly part of a single consortium, these institutions effectively operate as isolated information silos with weak connectivity. The vast volume of data lacks unified standards, making analysis and utilization difficult. Furthermore, uneven regional development and ineffective integration of information resources impede the delivery of coordinated care. Concurrently, the development of medical consortia faces constraints such as insufficient funding and inadequate technical expertise.

In June 2018, the Guangdong Provincial Government issued the Action Plan for Deepening the Comprehensive Reform of Public Hospitals in Guangdong Province, which called for accelerating the development of closely integrated medical consortia and expediting the improvement of management mechanisms for human resources, finances, and materials within such consortia.

In July 2017, Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong jointly signed the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation and Promoting the Development of the Greater Bay Area, which set forth new development goals for the health sector. Furthermore, the health of women and children serves as a key indicator of national and social development.

In this context, Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital established China’s first Internet hospital for women’s and children’s health to enhance the existing capabilities and operational efficiency of its medical consortium, leveraging the development of internet platforms to integrate the three-tier healthcare service network.

Therefore, Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital has taken the lead in the development of its internet hospital. President Huang Hanlin believes that, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things, the Guangdong Provincial Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital will help promote high-quality development of maternal and child health services across the province and serve as a major breakthrough for improving primary healthcare.

China’s first internet hospital dedicated to women’s and children’s health was jointly established by WeDoctor and Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital. The maternal and child health base of the Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform is also hosted at Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Within just 16 working days after the launch of the Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform, it has connected 79 hospitals across 21 cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region, more than 10,000 physicians, 32 internet-based medical consortia, dozens of specialty collaboration alliances, and 500 pharmacy-clinic outlets.

To tightly integrate the entire collaborative platform, efforts must be made across all aspects. Therefore, at the technical level, Guangdong Women and Children’s Hospital will continue its partnership with WeDoctor. Regarding this collaboration, President Huang Hanlin stated that WeDoctor possesses extensive experience in operating internet hospitals and managing platforms, while the maternal and child health service system of Guangdong Province itself constitutes a robust healthcare service network. The organic integration of virtual and physical resources will enable this work to be carried out in greater detail, with more substance, and with greater effectiveness.

All interoperability technologies for the 143 maternal and child health hospitals under China’s first internet hospital dedicated to women’s and children’s health are provided by WeDoctor, which leverages its technology to integrate with hospital HIS systems. However, this effort faces a challenge: each hospital has different HIS interfaces, requiring WeDoctor to connect to them one by one.

Regarding the choice of WeDoctor, Dean Huang Hanlin stated that the primary reason was WeDoctor’s internet healthcare technology—specifically, the new “Internet+” medical technologies powered by artificial intelligence and VR. Secondly, as WeDoctor itself operates internet hospitals, the Guangdong Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital could leverage WeDoctor’s experience in this domain.

At this point, WeDoctor CEO Liao Jieyuan also provided his rationale. The primary reason is the WeDoctor Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform. As Guangdong serves as a key hub within this platform, the Guangdong Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital, established by the Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital based on its medical consortium, essentially aggregates all high-quality maternal and child health resources across Guangdong Province. With the Guangdong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital acting as the leading institution in this consortium, partnering with it enables the provision of high-quality services to residents of the Greater Bay Area in the field of maternal and child health.

Secondly, by establishing the maternal and child health base of the Greater Bay Area collaboration platform at Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, WeDoctor can gradually leverage its nationwide internet hospital resources and service capabilities to provide residents of the Greater Bay Area with more comprehensive and convenient medical services beyond maternal and child health.

In addition, as a provincial-level maternal and child health hospital, Guangdong Women and Children’s Hospital boasts the highest technical proficiency among all hospitals within the medical consortium and possesses abundant maternal and child health resources. Liao Jieyuan stated that both parties could deepen their cooperation in the future to jointly advance supply-side reforms in maternal and child health services, thereby providing residents of the Greater Bay Area with more professional, refined, and considerate medical and healthcare services.

President Huang Hanlin also informed us that, in addition to the collaboration with WeDoctor, the big data platform is supported by Shenzhen University’s computer information systems, with the Engineering Technology Center of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology joining as a technical support partner. Furthermore, several major information technology platforms, such as China Unicom, will provide support for remote networking.

Regarding the Greater Bay Area collaboration platform, President Huang Hanlin explained that the primary focus is on the coordination of medical resources. Given the disparities in medical resources among Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong, this platform enables more effective utilization of resources across these three regions. For instance, due to differences in regulatory approval requirements, certain new drugs and technologies may be available in Hong Kong before they are launched in mainland China; such cases can be addressed in Hong Kong.

Secondly, healthcare services in Hong Kong and Macao can still be accelerated. The WeDoctor Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform will leverage its strengths in specialized disciplines as an entry point to continuously integrate medical resources across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, promoting the integration of healthcare services with technological platforms. By achieving efficient complementarity in disciplinary capabilities, service scale, and service capacity, the platform aims to provide residents of the Greater Bay Area with “90 seconds online, 90 minutes offline” maternal and child health services.

President Huang Hanlin believes that the internet is an excellent means of extending hospital services to grassroots levels and into households, thereby connecting with every individual. The hospital’s current strategy is to leverage the experts from the Guangdong Provincial Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital, enabling physicians to provide services through this platform. The next step involves integrating service institutions and resources within Guangdong Province that are under contract with the Guangdong Provincial Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital. However, these institutions and resources must undergo rigorous vetting, with clear admission and exit mechanisms established to ensure the quality of medical services provided.

As China’s first provincial-level internet hospital dedicated to women’s and children’s health, the Guangdong Provincial Internet Hospital for Women’s and Children’s Health can leverage its technological capabilities to upgrade from a loosely integrated medical consortium to a tightly integrated one. President Huang Hanlin has provided a detailed explanation of the key features and advantages of the upgraded hospital and its collaborative platform:

First, implement the concept of holistic health.The Guangdong Women and Children's Health Internet Hospital will apply the principles of tertiary prevention: primary prevention focuses on eliminating pathogenic factors; secondary prevention involves the "three early" measures—early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment and intervention; and tertiary prevention aims to promote rehabilitation and preserve remaining functions. This approach provides women and children with comprehensive, health-centered care throughout their entire life cycle.

Second, the depth and breadth of services.The so-called “depth” refers to establishing a women’s and children’s health service platform that connects healthcare institutions across five administrative levels—provincial, municipal, county (district), township, and village—to facilitate the downward flow of high-quality medical resources. This initiative shrinks the distance between women and children in remote areas and the Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital from 500 kilometers to just 0.5 meters. In other words, women and children in remote regions will no longer need to visit hospitals for registration; instead, they can access remote diagnosis and treatment simply by using a smartphone and a dedicated app.

In terms of breadth, the initiative is rooted in Guangdong, leveraging the Greater Bay Area’s collaborative platform as a foundation to expand into surrounding regions, including neighboring provinces, Southeast Asia, and even along the “Belt and Road” initiative to Africa. By the end of this year, the Guangdong Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital will establish a presence at Lekma Hospital in Ghana, Africa.

Third, the Guangdong Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital and its collaborative platform have achieved three integrations.：

1. Integration of online and offline services.Many internet hospitals offer only online services, without offline support. In reality, the maternal and child healthcare system differs from other medical service systems, featuring close integration between upper- and lower-tier institutions. Therefore, the Guangdong Provincial Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital has established multiple service points across Guangdong Province to provide offline support and assistance.

2. The integration of the Internet with geographic information technology, namely the combination of location-based services and mobile emergency care technology.In some remote areas, in coordination with mobile medical and emergency rescue services, designated treatment centers and mobile platforms are established based on traffic conditions and population distribution patterns. Supported by remote teleconsultation platforms, this approach ensures the homogeneity of service quality and capacity.

3. Integration of the Internet and the Internet of Things.By leveraging the internet to interconnect wearable devices with remote monitoring platforms, patients can be monitored in real time. Abnormalities are promptly reported through the monitoring platform, and patients are guided to take appropriate corrective measures. This is particularly beneficial for women and children in areas where access to medical care is inconvenient, enabling them to receive healthcare services without leaving their homes.

Furthermore, the Guangdong Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital has established “Moments”—namely, mutual aid groups—tailored to patients’ diverse health profiles. Under the guidance of healthcare professionals, patients can support one another by sharing their experiences and insights, thereby benefiting a broader population.

To illustrate how the platform connects patients, network hospitals, and Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, President Huang Hanlin provided an example:

The Hua'er Health Station in Caitang Town, Chao'an District, Guangzhou, admitted a pregnant woman for examination. Upon discovering that the fetus was in an abnormal position or that there had been complications in her previous pregnancy, the staff suspected potential fetal abnormalities. Consequently, they facilitated the patient’s direct registration and consultation with physicians via the Guangdong Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital platform. Based on the examination reports uploaded by the patient, the platform physicians provided guidance. If the existing test results were sufficient for diagnosis, the physician issued a diagnostic opinion and advised on the next steps.

If the uploaded examination items are insufficient, she will be guided to a nearby medical institution, such as the Chaozhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, to complete the examinations. She should then upload the results for further guidance from the doctor.

If further prenatal testing is required, it is recommended that she travel to Guangzhou for face-to-face consultations with specialists and undergo invasive diagnostic procedures, thereby enabling a more rapid definitive diagnosis and initiation of treatment.

Among the first batch of medical institutions to join the network, Guangdong Women and Children’s Hospital selected eight primary care facilities across five regions—including Chaozhou, Shaoguan, Huizhou, and Yangjiang—for nine-party collaborative telemedicine connectivity. It also signed Internet Hospital (Affiliate Hospital) cooperation agreements with Chaozhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Yangjiang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shaoguan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Huizhou Second Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and Caitang Hua’er Health Station in Chao’an District, Chaozhou City.

It is reported that the Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform is the first medical collaboration platform in China to support registration by users from Hong Kong and Macao, and has integrated online payment functions for these users. To date, the platform has connected 79 hospitals across 21 cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, over 10,000 physicians, 32 internet-based medical consortia, dozens of specialty collaboration alliances, and 500 pharmacy-clinic outlets. Enterprises such as Lee & Man (Hong Kong), Baode Medical (Hong Kong), Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings, Dashenlin Pharmacies, Yilianzhong, China Telecom Guangdong Branch, and China Unicom Guangdong Branch have partnered with WeDoctor to jointly develop new models of healthcare services in the Greater Bay Area.

The Greater Bay Area Collaboration Platform has launched a public access portal, enabling residents to connect via computers, mobile phones, telephone calls, and other means. It is currently the first platform in China that supports seamless login and usage by users from Hong Kong and Macao. Moving forward, the platform will continue to aggregate medical resources across the Greater Bay Area, providing comprehensive, thoughtful, and meticulous services to its 70 million residents.

President Huang stated that, as a next step, the Guangdong Provincial Women and Children’s Health Internet Hospital will drive the gradual integration of 142 municipal and county-level maternal and child health hospitals across the province, along with more than 3,000 primary healthcare institutions—including village health stations—into the internet hospital platform to facilitate offline and remote medical collaboration.

Next, the Provincial Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital will leverage charitable funds to conduct 1,000 joint online and offline free clinics through the Greater Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Health Service Platform. This initiative aims to strengthen medical collaboration between primary and secondary maternal and child health institutions, enhance the accessibility and timeliness of women’s and children’s healthcare via “Internet + Women’s and Children’s Health,” continuously improve diagnostic and treatment standards and outcomes, and play a significant role in supporting targeted poverty alleviation and promoting the transformation of healthcare models such as tiered diagnosis and treatment and two-way referrals.

With the support of the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission and various sectors of society, the Guangdong Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital and the WeDoctor Greater Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Health Service Platform will serve as a bridge connecting medical resources for women and children across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. By facilitating the flow of high-quality health resources and promoting their accessibility at the grassroots level, these initiatives will advance the integrated development of healthcare in the three regions. This will provide residents of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with more comprehensive and convenient medical and health services, enabling women and children to access expert-level care from provincial specialists right in their local communities.

Dean Huang Hanlin stated that, with support from all sectors, the Guangdong Provincial Women’s and Children’s Health Internet Hospital will continue to grow and strengthen, enhancing the sustainability and timeliness of women’s and children’s health services, improving primary care capabilities and clinical outcomes, and reducing mortality and disability rates. It will play a significant role in supporting targeted poverty alleviation and facilitating the transformation of healthcare delivery models, such as tiered diagnosis and treatment and two-way referrals, thereby making more prominent contributions to safeguarding the health of women and children across the province.