Xinjiang hospitals treat over 20,000 foreign patients from neighboring countries
Global Times
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Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has established a cross-border telemedicine service platform which has so far helped more than 20,000 foreign patients from nearby Central Asian countries. 

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Ding(Left), director of Kizilsu Kirgiz People's Hospital, discusses symptoms with a female patient from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2017. Photo: Courtesy of Ding Qiang

Xinjiang launched the international medical service in five of its hospitals which have so far treated 21,178 foreign patients. Relying on Urumqi's high-quality medical resources, local health authorities established a cross-border telemedicine service platform in 2015, connecting 29 hospitals in the region and 24 hospitals in three nearby countries, according to information the Xinjiang's health commission provided to the Global Times on Monday. 

With improved medical quality and a similar language, a growing number of heart disease patients from nearby Central Asian countries, mostly Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, who previously went to Germany for treatment, came to Xinjiang's hospitals, Ding Qiang, director of Kizilsu Kirgiz People's Hospital in west Xinjiang, told the Global Times on Monday.

Ding, who was sent by East China's Jiangsu Province to assist Xinjiang's medical services, said that last year his hospital treated three foreign heart disease patients, but this year 30 foreign patients have already registered at the hospital. 

Doctors from Jiangsu began assisting Xinjiang hospitals in 2016. Ding's hospital is able to perform transcatheter closure surgery on patients with congenital heart disease, which is less traumatic and less risky compared to other methods. 

In Urumqi, a new international hospital began operation on August 16, to provide cross-border health services for Central and Western Asian countries. 

According to Xinjiang health commission, Xinjiang also established the China-Central Asia tuberculosis control and training base, which will cooperate with related countries to build a joint tuberculosis prevention mechanism.