Telemedicine covers nearly 90 percent of counties and districts in China: NHC

Telemedicine services now cover around 90 percent of all the counties and districts in China, said Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of the Medical Administration of the National Health Commission (NHC), at a press conference on April 27.

Specialists with General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University and Xiangyang Polytechnic Affiliated Hospital in central China's Hubei Province provide support to each other during a tele-consultation at the remote medical consultation center of General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Feb. 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)

Telemedicine coverage has been extended to all the country’s previously impoverished counties owing to its poverty alleviation efforts aimed at improving medical services, Jiao added.

Telemedicine has greatly rebalanced the uneven distribution of medical resources and has improved the availability of medical services, the official relayed. This technology is used to provide technical instructions, assistance and training for medical workers and assists them to complete tasks like ward inspection, while also boosting the capabilities of community-level medical and health service institutions, according to Jiao. She also noted that the internet-based healthcare model could provide greater benefits to more people.

During the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the country made great strides in further expanding its online medical services.

Statistics show that over 50 percent of China’s hospitals at the grade 3 level, the top level in the country, have already started offering online diagnosis and treatment services for patients based on appointments scheduled over the internet. Moreover, relevant systems have been put in place at over 7,700 hospitals at the grade 2 level and above.

Patients can reduce their queuing times in hospitals and receive their diagnostic reports directly on their smartphones thanks to the new service offerings.

Between 2018 and 2020, China designed a complete policy framework to support the construction of smart hospitals in terms of digital medical treatments, services and management by speeding up the utilization of internet technologies.