Internet propels Hechi's poverty alleviation efforts in health

In recent years, the health commission in Hechi has been promoting its targeted poverty alleviation efforts through internet applications in the health field.

Great importance has been attached to telemedicine. A total of 15 million yuan ($2.13 million) has been invested in to building the People's Hospital of Hechi into the city's remote medical consultation center.

A remote consultation expert database, with six doctors with high professional titles and 66 doctors with senior high professional titles, was also established at the People's Hospital of Hechi.

In addition, channels for remote consultation have been built up with 49 domestically renowned hospitals, including Beijing-based Fuwai Hospital under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated with the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, and Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Guangdong Province.

In the first half of this year, 31 cases of remote consultation, 358 cases for telepathology, 58 cases of telediagnosis of images, and three distance teaching cases were carried out at the People's Hospital of Hechi.

To date, there are 23 public hospitals in the city that boast the capabilities for telemedicine, as well as 36 township health centers and community service centers can participate in telemedicine collaborations.

The management information system for the primary-level medical and health institutions in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has been applied in all the 152 township health centers in Hechi, which helps promote their informatization construction.

In the first half of this year, the total number of out-patient registration in Hechi reached 9.47 million, while that of health records totaled 4.35 million. About 549,600 seniors and 248,000 people with chronic diseases set up their files at medical and health institutions.

In November 2018, Hechi was selected as the pilot city in Guangxi of electronic health cards. In March, the city’s six public hospitals, including the People’s Hospital of Hechi and Hechi Chinese Traditional Medicine Hospital, were rated as city-level pilot units.

In July, electronic health cards were officially issued in the six hospitals, marking Hechi as the first prefecture-level city in Guangxi with all the medical institutions directly under its control applying electronic health cards.