More foreigners seeking medical care in Xinjiang

Tajikistan. It is home to 14 diverse peoples, including Uygur, Kazakh and Tajik ethnic groups — people who speak the same language and have customs similar to neighboring countries.

“The region has natural and cultural advantages of providing medical care to people from countries involved in the initiative,” said Peng Yong, deputy director of the Xinjiang Health and Family Planning Commission.

Five major hospitals in Urumqi have provided 500 beds for international patients and are equipped with nurses who can speak Russian and Kazakh. Foreign patients can also receive fasttrack services in those hospitals, Peng said, adding that more than 30 hospitals around Xinjiang also plan to launch services for foreigners.

In addition to the public, senior figures from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have visited the region 25 times to receive health checks since 2015, Peng added.

The region’s online diagnosis and consultation platform includes 11 top hospitals in China, 17 in Kyrgyzstan, two in Georgia and five in Kazakhstan. Fifteen hospitals in Tajikistan also plan to join the platform, Peng said.

Liu said the platform will eventually include 100 hospitals to provide timely help to foreign patients.

“Medical care is a basic and common need. Providing lifesaving medical care to foreign patients can create mutual trust,” Peng said.

CAI YANG / XINHUA A nurse from the Hospital of Xinjiang Traditional Uyghur Medicine, attends to a mother from Uzbekistan, along with her daughter, who was born in the facility in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.