Hospital alliance to promote exchanges

A hospital alliance between China and countries in Central and Eastern Europe was set up on Monday to facilitate cooperation in health and medical care.

The China-CEEC Hospital Collaboration Alliance has 47 founding members, including 34 major hospitals from China and 13 from five of the European countries, including the Czech Republic.

Huang Jiefu, former deputy minister of health and president of the Chinese Hospital Association, made the announcement on Monday at the second Ministers Meeting between China and CEEC that opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on Monday.

More European hospitals are expected to join the alliance in the future, with intensified cooperation and exchanges between China and the region, he said.

Major missions of the alliance include joint research and academic exchanges in health and medical care, technological cooperation and exchanges, and development of medical tourism in areas such as nursing and rehabilitation, said Xue Xiaolin, deputy president of the association.

"Cooperation and exchanges between medical institutions are an important part of the cooperation and exchanges between China and central and eastern European countries," Xue said. "The alliance will serve as an international platform for exchanges and cooperation between medical institutions from these countries."

China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission signed nine cooperation agreements on medical care, health maintenance, fighting infectious diseases and development of traditional medicine with countries including Hungary and Lithuania on Monday, according to Hu Hongtao, an official for international exchanges at the commission.

About 40 percent of the Chinese members of the alliance have already carried out cooperation programs in areas such as technology with the Central and Eastern European members in the alliance, he said.

Wang Lingling, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Hospital Association, said members of the alliance are considering furthering their current cooperation and exchanges to some new areas, such as attracting overseas tourists with their unique medical care resources.

"Some Central and Eastern European countries, such as Hungary and Lithuania, have shown strong interest in traditional Chinese medicine, and hope to promote TCM," she said. "They also have their own healthcare resources, such as natural hot springs, to serve Chinese customers."

Miloslav Ludvik, president of Motol University Hospital in Prague, the Czech Republic, a member of the China-CEEC Hospital Collaboration Alliance, said he is looking forward to the prospect of cooperation in medical tourism with his Chinese counterparts.

As one of the biggest hospitals in Europe, the hospital can offer high-end cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and other medical services, he said.