First online hospital in China starts services in Guangdong

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-02-11

The homepage of Guangdong Online Hospital. (Internet photo)

A trend of separating the issuance of drug prescriptions and drug dispensing is starting to take shape in China after new rules for doctors offering medical services over the phone or via the internet came into effect, Shanghai's China Business News reports.

The trend is more apparent after the Second People's Hospital of Guangdong, the country's first and only licensed online hospital, issued prescriptions for dispensing by a pharmacy, according to the report.

Long-distance medical services were offered among medical institutions based on the business to business (B2B) model, but were transformed into the business to consumer (B2C) formula in August 2014 when health authorities issued regulations allowing patients to access medical services over the internet.

The Second People's Hospital of Guangdong started offering its online medical care services Oct. 25 last year after over a one-month trial period, according to the report.

The hospital is planning to set up 1,000 network sites for online diagnosis in Guangdong before the Chinese New Year holiday and to expand the network sites to 10,000 at the end of this year, said Zhang Shenming, a promoter of the online hospital.

The hospital has also signed cooperative agreements with over 20 drugstore chains and a medical technology company in Shenzhen to offer remote medical services.

Under the format of internet medical services, patients can seek medical attention from a doctor at a chain drugstore in Guangzhou through communication with the doctor via the internet.

Direct patient-doctor communication means that the patient does not need to visit the hospital in person.

The hospital has 200 doctors covering a wide range of medical disciplines taking part in the project and more than 10 professionals are responsible for the online hospital websites' operations. After the pilot operation, about 200 patients per day will be able to seek medical attention through the online hospital, according to Zhang.

In addition, more drug prescriptions issued by doctors have been handed out for dispensing by pharmacists, a move that will be beneficial to the development of the separation of drug prescriptions and dispensing, Zhang added.