As a new policy beneficiary, Sanya, at the southern tip of the island, together with the Boao Lecheng International Medicinal Tourism Pilot Zone, have been listed among China's first group of 13 areas designated to build medical and healthcare tourism demonstration bases for the country, according the official website of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Jiang Huicheng, chairman of the Hainan First Investment Holding Group, which has established the Chengmei International Medical Center at Lecheng, said: "Social investors are attracted by the opportunities of medical services in Hainan."

By making good use of the island's natural environmental advantages, medical and health businesses will experience renewed and solid development."

He said growth of Hainan's medical and healthcare industries in recent years has benefited the local people and attracted both domestic and overseas tourists.

During a recent trip to inspect medical projects for rehabilitation and treatment of children with cerebral palsy in Sanya, Roshal Leonid Mikhailovich, president of the Russian National Medical Commission, spoke highly of the city's medical capabilities and its integration with Western medicine.

He said the Russian commission has signed a framework on medical and healthcare cooperation with the provincial health authorities, adding that he hoped to import Chinese medicine technology to Russia.

The hospital, which is now providing tailored medical services to tourists, has provided medical treatments to more than 40,000 foreign tourists since it introduced the Chinese healthcare tourism project in 2002.

Hainan, once a key stop on the ancient Maritime Silk Road and now growing into an international tourism destination, plans to build the island into an all-for-one international demonstration zone for traditional Chinese medicine tourism by 2020.

(China Daily 06/23/2017 page18)