West China Women's and Children's Internet Hospital Launches as Southwest China's Largest Pediatric and Obstetric Institution Transforms into Digital Healthcare Leader
Event Site
Yesterday, the “Leap · Infinite” event for the West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University was held at the Minshan Hotel in Chengdu. This marks the realization of end-to-end online medical services by West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University, the largest specialized hospital for obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics in Southwest China, thereby extending high-quality medical resources to grassroots levels and launching a new model of “Internet + Healthcare.”
At the launch ceremony, Li Hong, Executive Vice President of Sichuan University; Shen Ji, Director of the Sichuan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission; Li Zhifeng, Deputy General Manager of Tencent’s Internet+ Cooperation Division; and Zheng Chengyu, General Manager of China Telecom’s Sichuan Branch, along with other leaders, guests, and partners, delivered speeches. They affirmed the significance and value of the West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University and expressed their expectation that the hospital would deliver high-quality medical services to more patients.
In Shen Ji’s view, “West China Women and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University is the first internet hospital in Sichuan Province established on the basis of a physical hospital, and it is also one of the key demonstration projects for innovative exploration of ‘Internet + Healthcare’ by Sichuan’s health and family planning sector.”
What are the features of the first internet hospital in Southwest China, established by West China Women's and Children's Hospital Internet Hospital of Sichuan University?
Via IPTV, the platform brings high-quality medical resources and services to millions of households, enabling patients in remote and grassroots areas to more conveniently access medical services from West China Women’s and Children’s Hospital. By decentralizing premium medical resources, it has achieved end-to-end online healthcare services.
Built by China Telecom Sichuan Branch, the IPTV system features an iTV medical and health platform specifically designed for West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University, marking China’s first “Home Internet Hospital.” Leveraging a “home-based telemedicine” system via IPTV set-top boxes and televisions, it enables functions such as appointment registration, video consultations, e-prescriptions, video follow-ups, and health education lectures.
Patients can easily access services such as triage consultation, online outpatient care, online payment, examination appointment, inpatient bed reservation, medication delivery, and chronic disease follow-up via IPTV. Following the launch of the West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University, patients can also make online payments through various channels, including medical insurance, commercial insurance, and WeChat.
At the platform launch event, attendees experienced a range of internet-based healthcare applications, including smart hospital services, online clinics, iTV video consultations, electronic prescriptions, the “Kangbao” intelligent triage robot, and the Yunbao App, accessed via China Telecom’s IPTV television screens and Tencent WeChat mobile interfaces. Currently, most of these applications are live, allowing patients to access them through mobile devices or home televisions.
“West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital leverages the high-quality medical resources of West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Sichuan University to build an internet hospital that provides a closed-loop online-to-offline service, thereby promoting broader application of ‘Internet + Healthcare’ and achieving universal access to premium medical resources,” said Li Hong, Executive Vice President of Sichuan University.
In the context of internet hospitals, delivering medications to patients is a critical service. After extensive research and selection, we partnered with Kangmei Smart Pharmacy, a one-stop pharmaceutical care platform under Kangmei Pharmaceutical, to provide internet hospitals with comprehensive services including professional prescription review, medication dispensing, verification, and delivery.
Kangmei Pharmaceutical is the first large listed “Internet+” enterprise in China to deploy internet solutions across the entire pharmaceutical industry chain, comprehensively building a system of “Big Health + Big Platform + Big Data + Big Services.” Kangmei Pharmaceutical has successfully established an internet-based big health platform comprising online hospitals, smart pharmacies, smart elderly care, a health think tank, health management, third-party payment services, health insurance, community health, and smart wellness. The company is actively promoting transformation in the healthcare industry and industrial upgrading, committed to building an open, connected, convenient, and efficient smart healthcare platform.
Currently, Kangmei Pharmaceutical’s pioneering smart pharmacy project in China has been implemented in dozens of Grade A tertiary hospitals, including the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Beijing Guang’anmen Hospital, processing approximately 12,000 prescriptions per day. By providing home delivery services, the project bridges the “last mile” of healthcare between medical institutions and patients, thereby improving patient experience and enhancing satisfaction with medical services.
During the conference, Li Hong, Executive Vice President of Sichuan University, and Lei Shundong, Director of the Public Affairs Development Department at West China Women’s and Children’s Hospital, visited Kangmei Smart Pharmacy. At approximately 2:30 PM that day, the first delivery from Kangmei Smart Pharmacy successfully reached the family of a patient in Xinjin County from downtown Chengdu. The delivery personnel provided detailed explanations on drug usage, dosage, and precautions, ensuring customers’ peace of mind. By 4:00 PM that afternoon, all medications prescribed through the West China Women’s and Children’s Online Hospital had been safely delivered to patients. With morning teleconsultations followed by afternoon home delivery, this efficiency and professionalism in pharmaceutical logistics gained recognition from over 300 hospital representatives.
In addition to direct-to-patient medication delivery and the ITV medical platform, West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University has also established a comprehensive internet-based diagnosis and treatment system and supporting healthcare services, including a WeChat Smart Hospital, online clinics, e-prescriptions, the “Kangbao” intelligent triage robot, and the “Yunbao” app. By deeply integrating these digital tools, the hospital connects patients and providers to create an online-offline closed-loop service model. Rooted in Sichuan, serving Southwest China, and influencing the entire nation, the hospital ensures that patients can access high-quality medical services provided by West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University, regardless of their location.
“Following the launch of the West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital of Sichuan University, patients can access services such as triage consultations, online outpatient visits, and digital payments from home via mobile devices or smart TVs. Meanwhile, the platform also offers value-added operational services—including express delivery of paper-based medical reports, smart parking, and medical financing installments—to meet patients’ diverse healthcare needs,” said Li Hong, Executive Vice President of Sichuan University, in an interview with reporters.
Subsequently, West China Women’s and Children’s Internet Hospital will actively develop big data platform applications. By leveraging data analytics and machine learning, and conducting deep learning based on clinical guidelines, literature, evidence-based experience, and clinical diagnosis and treatment cases from West China Hospital, it aims to build an intelligent diagnostic system to provide higher-quality medical services to patients. Additionally, it is collaborating with Tencent to develop solutions based on big data analytics in healthcare.
The official launch of the internet hospital signifies the boundless extension of the institution’s high-quality medical services across China and globally, enhancing primary healthcare capabilities, implementing sustainable capacity-building assistance, establishing a permanent West China medical team, and facilitating the orderly triage of patients.
Introduction to West China Women's and Children's Hospital
West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University (also known as West China Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Sichuan University) is a hospital directly affiliated with and administered by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and one of the first batch of “Grade A Tertiary” specialized hospitals for women and children in China. It is a university-affiliated hospital integrating medical care, teaching, scientific research, preventive healthcare, and talent development. The hospital undertakes extensive clinical work, including the treatment, referral, and consultation of critically ill women and children in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and even the entire Southwest region. In 2014, the hospital was awarded the Sichuan Provincial Urban Hospital Management Excellence Award for the first time; and it ranked first among women’s and children’s hospitals nationwide on the “Best Hospitals in China” list published by the Institute of Hospital Management, Fudan University, for three consecutive years.
The hospital currently has 16 clinical departments and 5 medical technology departments. Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics are both national key disciplines, with Pediatrics designated as a National Quality Course. Gynecology, Obstetrics, and the Neonatology specialty within Pediatrics are part of the National Clinical Key Specialty Construction Projects. The hospital employs over 1,700 staff members, including 122 senior faculty members (professorial level), 117 associate senior faculty members (associate professorial level), 27 doctoral supervisors, and 96 master’s supervisors.