June 12, 2018

At the end of April, the State Council of China has formally expressed its views on the development of the “Internet + medical health” program. The objective of this planning is to improve medical health management, in order to optimize service efficiency, reduce costs, and to meet the increasing domestic needs on medical health.

The three (3) key aspects of the said planning are summarized as follows:

1. Medical and Health Service System: For the promotion of multiple health systems such as public health services, online support for family doctors, and online drug supply, among others.
2. Medical and Health Information System: For the establishment of an interoperable health information platform, unification of the national health resource platform, enhancement of the basic infrastructure, and establishment of an information platform in the national hospital.
3. Strengthening supervision and security measures of relevant health industries and personal health information.

It would be noteworthy for medical device companies to keep in mind that China government encourages utilization of artificial intelligence technology on medical image recognition, pathological typing and multidisciplinary consultations, as this can help improve the efficiency of medical services in China. It also supports the development of health-related artificial intelligence technology, medical robots, large-scale medical equipment, emergency rescue medical equipment, biological three-dimensional printing technology, and wearable devices.

Reference:

Official press