Hangzhou

date：2025-07-02 Category：Popular cities

Hangzhou Medical Tourism

When “medical” and “tourism” meet, a journey that combines health restoration and physical and mental relaxation is born. As the core city of the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou is emerging as a highly competitive medical tourism destination in the Asia-Pacific region, thanks to its high-quality medical resources, profound cultural heritage of traditional Chinese medicine, beautiful natural ecosystems, and increasingly sophisticated international medical support. There are not only top medical technology, but also the innovative model of “medical + cultural tourism”, which allows patients to feel the healing power of “Poetry and Painting Jiangnan” in the treatment.

supporting facilities:

The core competitiveness of medical tourism lies in the seamless integration of “medical” and “tourism”. Hangzhou has built a supporting system covering the whole process through the double upgrade of “hard facilities + soft services”:

1. Convenience: Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport has opened more than 120 international and regional air routes covering major cities in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States; the city's subway network is directly connected to core medical nodes such as ZJU First Hospital and Shaw Hospital, and high-speed rail covers major cities in the Yangtze River Delta in one hour, realizing efficient linkage of “medical treatment-travel-return”.

2. Exclusive medical services: a number of hospitals have set up international medical departments (e.g. International Medical Center of Run Run Shaw Hospital, International Department of Zhijiang Campus of ZJU First Hospital), which provide multi-lingual medical consultation, cross-border medical insurance settlement, visa assistance (some hospitals have opened green channels for medical visas in cooperation with embassies and consulates), high-end wards (including single rooms and family rooms), and customized itinerary planning (e.g. post-operative West Lake walks, Chinese medicine physiotherapy experience).

3. Integration of supporting facilities: the hospital gathered around the West Lake, Xixi Wetland, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and other world cultural heritages, as well as high-end hotels such as Aman Fayun, Grand Hyatt, etc., and some healthcare institutions have launched the “treatment + healing” packages jointly with the travel agency (e.g., oncology patients can be paired with the tea ceremony course, Chinese medicine and health care lectures; medical and beauty tourists can be arranged for tea picking experience in Longjing Village). experience).

the characteristics of the treatment:

The attractiveness of Hangzhou's medical tourism stems from the differentiated advantages of “combination of Chinese and Western medicine + precision medicine”, which not only retains the wisdom of Chinese medicine's “treatment of the future”, but also integrates international cutting-edge technology:

1. Combined medical treatment: As a “place of inheritance of Chinese medicine culture”, Hangzhou has formed a unique model in the fields of adjuvant treatment of tumors, management of chronic diseases, and post-operative rehabilitation. For example, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine combines traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and acupressure with modern radiotherapy and targeted therapy to reduce the side effects of radiotherapy; Hangzhou Red Cross Hospital's “Chinese Medicine Treatment Center for Unhealthy Diseases” has launched medicinal dietary therapy and customized services such as poultices for sub-healthy people, which has become the “first choice” for international tourists to maintain good health. The first choice for international tourists.

2. Medical treatment and cutting-edge technology: Hangzhou has a number of internationally certified cutting-edge medical technologies - the “da Vinci Surgical Robot” of ZJU First Hospital has the highest number of surgeries in the country, and the “Proton Heavy Ion Center” (under construction) of Shaw Hospital has the highest number of surgeries in the country. The “Proton Heavy Ion Center” (under construction) of Shaw Hospital will fill the gap of precision radiotherapy in East China; some hospitals have already carried out personalized medical treatment, such as CAR-T cell therapy and genetic testing, to provide “one-person-one-party” solutions for patients with cancer and genetic diseases.

3. Medicine and Chronic Disease Management: Relying on the platforms of Zhejiang Rehabilitation Medical Center and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of Provincial People's Hospital, Hangzhou is in the leading position in the fields of neurological rehabilitation (e.g., after-effects of stroke) and sports rehabilitation (e.g., after joint replacement surgery) in China. The rehabilitation program integrates exercise therapy, occupational therapy and Chinese medicine physiotherapy (such as moxibustion and fumigation), and is complemented by nutritional counseling and psychological guidance, to help patients achieve “physiological-psychological-social” comprehensive rehabilitation.

4. Specialty advantages: Hangzhou's medical aesthetic, stomatology, ophthalmology and other consumer medical fields are also eye-catching - Hangzhou First People's Hospital's “Medical Aesthetic Center” is famous for its “natural aesthetics” concept. Famous for the concept of “natural aesthetics”, combined with the Shaw Hospital's dermatology (acne, anti-aging treatment) to form a “treatment + beauty” closed-loop; ZJU No. 2 Hospital's Oral Implantation Center to introduce the 3D guide plate technology, realizing the immediate implantation, minimally invasive restoration, attracting a large number of international patients.

recommended hospitals:

Hangzhou's medical tourism resources are highly concentrated in high-quality tertiary hospitals and international accredited institutions, the following are representative of the choice:

1. The First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine: organ transplantation (the number of liver transplants is the first in the country), precision medicine, infectious diseases JCI accreditation (2018), National Medical Center

2. The Second Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine: trauma and emergency care (the first in the country in terms of the volume of emergency care), cardiovascular intervention, neurosurgery JCI accreditation, Zhejiang Province Trauma Rescue Center

3. Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine: minimally invasive surgery (global leader in the number of laparoscopic surgeries), international medical care (all-English services), general medicine, JCI reassessment of seven consecutive full scores, the United States of America, Loma Linda University partner hospitals

4. Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital: cardiovascular disease (cardiac surgery of the top ten), rehabilitation medicine (neurological rehabilitation characteristics), geriatrics National Regional Medical Center (cardiovascular), Zhejiang Provincial Rehabilitation Medicine Quality Control Center

5. The First People's Hospital of Hangzhou: medical aesthetics (facial rejuvenation, skin tumors), oral implantation (digital implantation technology), ophthalmology (myopia correction) Zhejiang Provincial Medical Aesthetics Quality Control Center, the International Society for Aesthetic Physicians (ISAPS) members

the core advantage: why choose Hangzhou?

Compared with traditional medical tourism destinations such as Singapore and Japan, Hangzhou's advantage lies in the compound competitiveness of “technology + service + ecology”:

1. Accessibility of top technologies: Hangzhou's tertiary hospitals continue to rise in the rankings of international authoritative lists (e.g., U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals in the World), and some of the specialized technologies (e.g., liver transplants, da Vinci surgeries) have already reached the international first-tier level, with the cost of 1/3-1/2 of the cost of Europe and the United States.

2. Service experience humanization: from “one-stop” guide to “treatment + culture and tourism” customized packages, Hangzhou medical tourism focus on patient experience. For example, the International Department of Run Run Shaw Hospital provides “interpreter + companion + post-operative follow-up” full service, and some hotels cooperate with hospitals to launch “medical rooms” (equipped with blood pressure meters, first aid kits, etc.).

3. Ecological healing: Hangzhou's natural endowment as a “city of mountains and water” provides a natural scene for rehabilitation - morning exercises by the West Lake, slow walks in the Xixi Wetland, and healing in the tea garden in Meijiawu have been incorporated into the design of medical tourism products to help patients relieve anxiety and accelerate their recovery. Rehabilitation.

4. Policy dividends: Zhejiang Province's “Healthy Zhejiang 2030” plan explicitly proposes “building an advanced international medical tourism zone”, and Hangzhou, as the core carrying area, has piloted cross-border medical insurance settlement (covering 30+ countries and regions), simplified the visa process for foreign patients, and provided support for international medical projects. Visa process is simplified for foreign patients, and tax incentives are given to international medical projects.

Policy support:

The rapid development of medical tourism in Hangzhou cannot be separated from the systematic layout of the government:

1. Top-level design: In 2021, the “Zhejiang Province International Medical Tourism Pioneer Zone Construction Program” was introduced, specifying Hangzhou as the “core area”, focusing on the development of precision tumor treatment, traditional Chinese medicine and health care, high-end medical aesthetics and other industries, with the goal of attracting more than 50,000 international patients in 2025/year.

2. Construction of industrial parks: Hangzhou Medicine Port Town, China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Hangzhou Area and other platforms have gathered leading enterprises such as WuXi Biotech and East China Pharmaceuticals to promote the integration of medical technology research and development with tourism scenarios.

3. Talents and internationalization: Implementing the “Medical Tourism Talent Attraction Program”, introducing international certified physicians and multilingual medical interpreters; supporting institutions such as ZJU First Hospital and Shaw Hospital to establish cooperation with overseas hospitals, and regularly organizing international medical tourism forums to enhance global influence.

Conclusion

From “treating diseases” to “healing body and mind”, Hangzhou medical tourism is drawing a new picture of “health + tourism” with “technology as the root, culture as the soul and ecology as the wing”. tourism". Whether it is seeking cutting-edge treatment of difficult and serious patients, or the pursuit of physical and mental balance of sub-healthy people, or keen on high-end medical beauty consumer groups, can be found in this “paradise on earth” belongs to their own healing program - after all, the best medical treatment is not only to repair the body, but also to heal the soul. After all, the best medical treatment is not only to repair the body, but also to heal the mind.