Nearly four months ago, a patient with oropharyngeal cancer from Bijie in Southwest China's Guizhou province successfully had a tumor removed after receiving a resection surgery, becoming one of the many beneficiaries of a newly developed regional medical center.

Located in Bijie city, the Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital Bijie Hospital was unveiled last November as a public Grade III best-grade comprehensive hospital, jointly built through cooperation between the government of Guizhou and the hospital in Zhejiang province.

The joint hospital was developed with the aim to enable the residents in Bijie and surrounding areas to enjoy high-quality medical services near their homes.

As a populous city with more than 6.7 million people, Bijie used to face issues such as uneven distribution of medical resources, a shortage of high-quality medical facilities and relative scarcity of top medical talent. Patients, particularly those with severe and rare illnesses, often had to turn to hospitals far away for quality treatment.

To tackle such issues, Guizhou and Zhejiang, which boast relatively high-quality medical services, signed an agreement in November 2022 to construct the hospital jointly.

The tumor resection surgery on the Bijie patient was carried out by a medical team in Zhejiang led by Ge Minghua, director of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital.

Ge is a member of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, a non-communist political party mainly composed of intellectuals in multiple fields, including medicine and health, education and ecological environment.

In August 2022, Ge went to Bijie to present academic lectures and surgery presentations, during which he met Zhang Guangqi, also a member of the CPWDP in Guizhou. Both discussed ways to help people based on the abilities of the party members to enhance social services.

Both sides reached a consensus on starting the joint hospital project, providing high-quality medical resources and achieving balanced regional distribution.

Subsequently, a two-phased project was initiated with an investment of 2.3 billion yuan ($328 million). The first phase included the establishment of 1,000 beds, with a total planned capacity of 1,960 beds in the future. As of now, the hospital in Zhejiang has dispatched more than 30 key personnel to the joint hospital in Bijie, who are serving as department heads and head nurses.

The hospital in Zhejiang has also established a talent cultivation project studio in the hospital, aiming to vigorously foster quality medical personnel.

Editor: Xu Zhitian