President Hong Sun delivered keynote speech in WMTC-BOAO 2016
The World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress (WMTC-BOAO) 2016, kicked off in Boao, Hainan Province, on the morning of June 29, 2016 (Figure 1). This event was endorsed by the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, co-hosted by the People’s Government of Hainan Province and Medical Tourism Association, and supported by professional institutions such as China Health Management Association. Prof. Hong Sun, vice president of China Health Management Association and president of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, was invited to chair a panel discussion and give a keynote lecture (Figure 2).
Leaders and distinguished guests attending the opening ceremony included: Junhua Lu, Vice Governor, People’s Government of Hainan Province; Feng Zhang, deputy director, Department of Planning and Information, National Health and Family Planning Commission; Shixiang Luo, deputy secretary-general, People’s Government of Hainan Province; Jiesheng He, president, China Elder Health Care Association; Fenglou Zhang, president, China Health Care Association; Jonathan Edelheit, chief executive officer, Medical Tourism Association; Yucheng Guo, president, China Health Management Association; and Robert M. Goldman, chairman, World Anti-Aging Academy of Medicine. Over 380 leaders and experts from government and industries including healthcare, tourism, finance, and insurance from more than 20 countries and regions were present at the meeting.
The WMTC-BOAO is currently the most comprehensive event in the field of medical tourism and health care. Up to now eight consecutive conferences have been held. The theme of the WMTC-BOAO 2016 Congress was “Transboundary and Cross-Border, Leaping and Win-Win”, and the main topic was “Focusing on Global Medical Tourism Resources for Cross-Border Cooperation, Promoting the Leaping Development of Health Industry in the Silk Road”. The meeting was targeted to explore new ideas in the innovative development of international medical tourism.
In addition to the main agenda, the congress also included ten sub-forums, among them: Factors Influencing the Growth of Outbound Medical Tourism from China; Telemedicine and Innovation in Healthcare Services; Medical and Health, Investment and Financing. Other main events were the China-Asia, China-America, China-Europe, and China-MENA Pacific Roundtable Summit for Medical Cooperation, with an attempt to discuss the cross-border medical tourism exchanges and cooperation.
In the congress themed “Transboundary and Cross-Border”, Prof. Sun was invited to chair the panel discussion themed “Summit Dialog: Global Business Opportunities in Medical Tourism in Hainan” and gave a keynote lecture (Figure 3).
“Medical tourism is comprehensive system engineering, requiring the collaboration among multiple sectors”, said Prof. Sun. According to Prof. Sun, the development of a local (regional) medical/health tourism project requires the following factors: first, there should be a good governance environment that can provides good supportive policies and legal guarantees; second, there should be relatively rich tourism resources and humane/natural resources as well as high-quality medical resources; in particular, large-scale comprehensive hospitals should play key roles in providing technical supports for the medical tourism and health industry; third, a good investment and financing environment should be established; finally, the conditions, capabilities, and cooperative intentions of investors and management teams are key factors to ensure the success of the projects.
Prof. Sun also shared the valuable experiences of Xiangya Hospital in the planning and implementation of medical tourism projects to meet the demands of the national strategy and social development. The Xiangya Hospital, in cooperation with Sinobioway, has initiated the Xiangya Health Valley, which is focused on health management and caring for children and the elderly and integrates medical tourism, health tourism, occupational education, and scientific research.
Acknowledgments
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Cite this article as: Wu H. President Hong Sun delivered keynote speech in WMTC-BOAO 2016. J Xiangya Med 2016;1:2.
