Ningbo Cloud Hospital, the first virtual hospital based on Cloud technology in China, officially started operations on March 11. Ningbo Municipal Health Bureau Director Wang Renyuan told China Business News: "Ultimately, we hope that the hospital will be without walls and borders, that it will not only deal with Ningbo but also the entire country and even the whole world." He said that the hospital will launch an online laboratory, examination and prescription drug delivery services by May 30, and offer a long-distance service outside Ningbo by July 30, increasing the number of cloud-based clinics to at least 10.
China Business News said there are currently, 100 primary medical institutions on the online healthcare coordination platform, and 226 specialists and family physicians have signed contracts with it. There are also four cloud-based clinics for hypertension, diabetes, psychological counseling and family medicine.
(Comment: Official statistics show that in 2012, health spending in China was approximately 3 trillion yuan (US$479 billion). By 2020, that is expected to rise to 8 trillion yuan (US$1.28 trillion).
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