China's Southernmost Internet Hospital Officially Launches, Serving Millions of Military and Civilians Across Sansha and South China Sea

On January 12, the Haikou Internet Hospital, supported and promoted by the Hainan Provincial and Haikou Municipal governments, was launched in Haikou City.

“To develop Hainan Province’s medical and health industry, it is necessary to introduce more high-quality medical resources. We thank Weiyi for coming to Hainan to collaborate with the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University in establishing the province’s first internet hospital, and we look forward to this innovative model of Haikou Internet Hospital serving hospitals, physicians, and the public.”Han Yingwei, Director of the Hainan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, expressed his expectations for Haikou Internet Hospital at the launch event, hoping that it would be based in Haikou, serve the Hainan International Tourism Island, and build a healthy maritime frontier.

Haikou Internet Hospital Officially Launches

Haikou Internet Hospital is the first internet hospital in Hainan Province. As a pilot city for national healthcare reform under the State Council and the southernmost provincial capital in China, Haikou has made an innovative attempt in the field of internet healthcare. More than 200 leaders and guests from the medical and insurance sectors across the province, including Han Yingwei, Director of the Hainan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission; Lv Chuanzhu, President of Hainan Medical University; Huang Yuanhua, Vice President of Hainan Medical University; Li Xiangyang, Director of the Medical Insurance Division of the Hainan Provincial Social Insurance Bureau; Li Li, President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University; Xie Zanliang, Director of the Office of the Sansha Municipal Government; and Su Yingqi, President of WeDoctor, jointly witnessed the launch ceremony.

Hainan Province started with a relatively low baseline in healthcare infrastructure development, with the number of hospital beds and physicians per 1,000 residents significantly below the national average. There is an urgent need to leverage the internet to introduce and integrate high-quality medical resources from within and outside the province, thereby ensuring that the millions of island residents can receive treatment for serious illnesses without having to leave the island.

Following the National Health and Wellness Conference, the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government mandated a full-scale push to develop Hainan’s medical and health industry and promote the deep integration of the internet with healthcare. In response to this directive, Haikou Internet Hospital has been rapidly advanced, exploring ways to leverage internet hospitals to achieve the goals of tiered diagnosis and treatment.

Haikou Internet Hospital was registered and established in Hainan by WeDoctor. Upon launch, it will integrate resources from the WeDoctor platform, including 260,000 experts, 7,200 expert teams, academician-led remote consultation centers for specific diseases, and general practice training centers, thereby introducing top-tier domestic and international expert resources to Hainan.

In the future, residents of Hainan will be able to access internet-based medical services—including health records, precise appointment scheduling, remote consultations, e-prescriptions with medication delivery, and online medical insurance processing—without leaving their homes. “The Haikou Internet Hospital will establish an inter-hospital information-sharing platform, a physician collaboration platform, a doctor-patient communication platform, and a resident health management platform,” said Su Yingqi, President of WeDoctor, in an interview with reporters.

At the launch ceremony, the newly established Haikou Internet Hospital and the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University (Hainan Medical University First Affiliated Hospital) jointly signed a cooperation agreement on the information platform for the hospital’s medical consortium. Li Li, President of the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, stated that the 14 member institutions of the hospital’s medical consortium will achieve information sharing in areas such as hospital data, laboratory tests, and medical imaging. Furthermore, the hospital will engage in in-depth collaboration with Haikou Internet Hospital in fields including renowned physician consultation centers, renowned physician surgical centers, and discipline development (academic exchanges, training, and key specialized diseases). By appointing discipline leaders and expert teams, internet-based clinics will be launched to provide patients with services such as online consultations, remote multidisciplinary consultations, and health management plans via text, images, telephone, and video.

Three Parties Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement on Internet Healthcare

During the same period, Sansha City People's Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, and Haikou Internet Hospital jointly signed a strategic cooperation agreement on internet-based healthcare. Following the signing, the internet hospital will extend its services to the southernmost regions to safeguard the health of local residents and military personnel. Sansha City will fully integrate the platform resources and services of Haikou Internet Hospital. The three parties will collaborate to explore the establishment of a tiered diagnosis and treatment platform for Sansha City’s internet hospital, thereby innovating healthcare service delivery in the region. They will also jointly develop mechanisms for coordinating medical service resources, facilitating the decentralization of high-quality care to border areas, with a particular focus on providing flexible and diverse internet-based medical services to border defense soldiers.

At the tripartite signing ceremony, a novel teleconsultation was conducted between Sansha City People's Hospital and the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University. Ms. Tan, a 46-year-old resident of Sansha City, sought medical attention at Sansha City People's Hospital for left-sided lower back pain accompanied by chills and fever. Dr. Song Peng, the attending physician, transmitted her examination reports via the internet to the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, a member institution of the medical consortium. Liang Peiyu, Director of the Urology Department at the hospital, diagnosed the patient with a left ureteral stone complicated by severe hydronephrosis of the left kidney, and referred her to the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University for further surgical treatment. Another teleconsultation was carried out between Wenchang Jinshan Town Central Hospital and the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University. In the future, an increasing number of Hainan residents will be able to enjoy the convenience brought by such internet-based healthcare services.

Hainan has a permanent resident population of over 9 million, with an annual tourist influx reaching 54 million, including more than 1 million “snowbird” visitors, creating substantial demand for medical and health services. Building on the WeDoctor platform, Haikou Internet Hospital will integrate medical resources across the province to serve Hainan’s residents, medical tourists, and maritime personnel, thereby supporting the development of Hainan as an International Tourism Island.

“Haikou, the provincial capital, is home to two-thirds of Hainan Province’s physicians at the associate chief physician level and above, highlighting an urgent need to decentralize high-quality medical resources to the grassroots level. Under the leadership and guidance of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Provincial People’s Government, and Hainan Medical University, we aim to introduce the ‘WeDoctor model’ of internet hospitals. This initiative will enable the Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University to refocus on its role as a tertiary care institution, establishing online-offline collaborative triage and referral partnerships with primary healthcare facilities, thereby truly achieving the national goal of tiered diagnosis and treatment,” said Lü Chuanzhu, President of Hainan Medical University, in an interview with reporters.