From "Medical Treatment Abroad" to "Medical Treatment in China": How China's Healthcare System Meets Global Patient Demands

The 9,000-kilometer journey from New Zealand to Shanghai was the hardest yet most rewarding decision 59-year-old Josh has ever made. Diagnosed with duodenopancreatic cancer at the end of 2025, Josh saw his condition continue to progress after receiving combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy in his home country. After learning that China had approved the world's first CAR-T innovative therapy for solid tumors, he traveled specifically to China for treatment. Upon admission, he was in poor health, suffering from massive malignant ascites and severe eating disorders. Just over a month after treatment, his malignant ascites subsided, the peritoneal drainage tube was removed, and Josh was successfully discharged from the hospital.

Today, such cross-border medical stories are no longer isolated cases. With the continuous breakthroughs in China's cutting-edge medical technologies and the continuous improvement of its service system, the popularity of medical treatment in China is rising rapidly — China is becoming a new preferred destination for global patients seeking high-quality medical solutions.

Hardcore Technological Breakthrough: China Unlocks New Diagnostic and Therapeutic Hopes for Global Patients

On June 22, 2026, Kailimei (Suriqiaoen Injection) was approved by the National Medical Products Administration, becoming the world's first and currently the only CAR-T product approved for the treatment of solid tumors. The launch of this landmark product has completely shattered the traditional perception of overseas patients that Chinese medical care "only has cost-effectiveness advantages". Beyond the CAR-T field, China continues to make breakthroughs in cutting-edge tracks such as brain-computer interfaces, surgical robots, minimally invasive techniques, and domestic innovative medical devices. Combined with the massive complex case resources accumulated by China's medical industry over decades, clinicians have sufficient practical experience in treating difficult and severe cases, enabling international patients to access the world's top cutting-edge medical achievements faster.

According to the 2025 Foreign-related Medical Service Report released by the National Health Commission, key foreign-related hospitals in China received 1.28 million international patients throughout the year, a 73.6% increase compared with three years ago. The number of patients traveling to China for medical treatment from Southeast Asia alone exceeded 150,000, while the number of European and American patients doubled year-on-year. More and more patients trapped by local medical solutions have found new treatment breakthroughs in China through cross-border medical treatment.

Multi-dimensional Advantages: Breaking the "Impossible Triangle" of Global Healthcare

In the global medical market, "high quality, affordability, and short waiting time" have long been regarded as an "impossible triangle" that is difficult to solve. Western countries have top-tier technologies, but their medical costs are extremely high and waiting cycles are lengthy; some developing countries offer low prices but lack core technical support. China, with its innovative strength and systematic advantages, has found a unique balance in this "triangular dilemma": the cost of similar surgeries is about 1/3 to 1/10 of that in Europe and the United States, and the average time from initial consultation to surgery for cancer patients is only 1 to 2 weeks, compared with several months in Europe and the United States.

This attractiveness is not driven by a single factor, but by the combined effect of multi-dimensional advantages:

Extremely high diagnosis and treatment efficiency‌: For patients traveling across borders for medical treatment, time cost is an unavoidable core consideration. In contrast to the long appointment cycles of several months or even years in overseas countries, Chinese medical institutions can complete the entire process from condition assessment, diagnosis to treatment within a very short time window, and are equipped with coherent post-operative follow-up visits, greatly reducing the time cost of cross-border medical treatment. Previously, a patient Ms. A with papillary thyroid cancer from the China-Myanmar border went to Shanghai ParkwayHealth Hospital for treatment. In less than 48 hours, the team led by Dr. Zhang Jianquan confirmed her diagnosis and successfully performed microwave ablation, with the overall diagnosis and treatment efficiency far exceeding expectations.

Mature international supporting facilities‌: First-tier cities represented by Shanghai have a very mature international language environment, convenient cross-border transportation, a widely covered international payment system and foreign-related accommodation resources. In 2025, public hospitals in Shanghai alone served 73,200 foreign patients. While receiving treatment, patients can fully balance their daily work, life and long-term health management, eliminating many inconveniences of being in a foreign country.

Full-cycle continuous care‌: The core of full-cycle continuous care for cross-border medical treatment is to break the traditional boundary of "service termination after treatment ends", and build a complete service closed loop covering the patient's rehabilitation stage after leaving China.

Pre-arrival coordination mechanism: Before the patient is discharged from the hospital, the domestic medical team will fully synchronize the diagnosis and treatment information with the patient's contracted medical institution in their home country, accurately align the subsequent rehabilitation plan and examination arrangements, and realize the seamless connection of cross-border diagnosis and treatment links.

Full-chain service coverage: Mature foreign-related medical services have built a complete service chain of "remote consultation - full in-hospital diagnosis and treatment - long-term follow-up management", covering the full-process needs of patients from initial consultation upon entry to rehabilitation after leaving China.

Continuous support after departure: After returning to their home country, patients can still use the exclusive online channel to feedback their rehabilitation status to the domestic medical team at any time, and obtain customized professional support such as rehabilitation guidance and medication adjustment suggestions, completely solving the common pain point of follow-up interruption after cross-border medical treatment.

Supporting guarantee support: Relying on the full-cycle service framework built in Guangzhou that links 17 international medical pilot hospitals, combined with supporting services such as international direct billing for commercial insurance and multilingual exclusive docking, it provides international patients with a coherent, uninterrupted cross-border medical experience.

Continuous Improvement of the Ecosystem: A Full-Chain Service Consolidates the Trust Foundation for Cross-Border Medical Treatment

At present, more than 850 medical institutions in 57 cities across China have launched international medical services, covering diverse entities such as public hospitals, foreign-related medical centers, and specialist clinics. Different types of medical resources complement each other's advantages, jointly providing international patients with diagnosis and treatment services adapted to different needs.

From the policy perspective, the state is continuously increasing efforts to build the international medical service system. In March 2026, 9 departments including the Ministry of Commerce and the National Health Commission jointly issued the Policy Measures on Promoting the Export of Travel Services and Expanding Entry Consumption, which clearly proposed to explore the construction of international medical tourism clusters and build international medical tourism brands. Beijing, Guangdong, Hainan and other regions have successively introduced local implementation policies to promote the standardization and systematization of cross-border medical services.

For overseas patients who are visiting China for the first time, visa application, travel arrangement, language communication and adaptation to an unfamiliar environment are still practical obstacles on their way to seeking medical treatment. According to industry observations, qualified medical translators, standardized multilingual medical records and documents, and cross-cultural communication capabilities are still common bottlenecks in the industry. Professional cross-border medical escort service platforms have become the best link connecting international patients with high-quality medical resources.

As a professional platform deeply engaged in medical services for international patients in China, DOVECURE is committed to providing international friends with a one-stop full-process escort service. From pre-departure visa application, flight and hotel booking, to exclusive airport pickup after arrival, in-hospital services including registration agency and full-process bilingual escort, as well as professional-level accurate translation of medical records and medical reports — these are all core services of DOVECURE. After the treatment, extended services such as high-end physical examination and traditional Chinese medicine wellness can also be customized, helping overseas patients completely eliminate information gaps and unfamiliarity, and obtain high-quality diagnosis and treatment experiences in China with full peace of mind.

In the future, China's cross-border medical care will gradually evolve from relatively scattered case services to systematization, specialization and branding, and eventually form a comprehensive service model that integrates medical treatment, health management, rehabilitation and tourism. With top-tier technological hard power and warm full-chain services, China is presenting a highly attractive new medical business card to global patients, steadily meeting the medical needs from all over the world.