GENEVA, Sept. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- China is seeing growing momentum in inbound medical tourism, driven by expanding access to innovative therapies, visa facilitation and the development of internationally oriented healthcare services, Dr. John K. Hsiang, Chairman of Jiahui Health Executive Committee, said at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum 2026.
At the "Health Without Borders" session on "Medical Tourism - Opportunities and Challenges in Services Trade", Dr. Hsiang was the sole Chinese healthcare representative invited to share China's experience in international medical services.
China's leading hospitals serving international patients recorded 1.28 million international patient visits in 2025, up 73.6% from three years earlier, according to data cited by Dr. Hsiang. Of these, 413,000 visits were made by patients who travelled to China specifically for medical care. At Jiahui Health, overseas patient inquiries nearly doubled year on year in the first half of 2026.
The growth is being supported by policy reforms and China's accelerating medical innovation. Citizens of 57 countries are currently eligible for China's 240-hour visa-free transit policy through 65 ports, while China now accounts for 33.7% of drugs in global development. In June 2026, China approved the world's first CAR-T therapy for a solid tumor, attracting international patients seeking access to this new treatment.
Recent Jiahui cases illustrate this trend. A New Zealand patient with advanced gastric cancer travelled to Shanghai shortly after the therapy's approval and became its first international recipient. In another case, a U.S. patient with non-small cell lung cancer came to Jiahui to receive ivonescimab, an innovative bispecific antibody currently available only in China, following discussions with his physician at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Hsiang said Shanghai is positioned as a gateway connecting Chinese medical innovation with global patients. Jiahui recorded more than 100,000 international outpatient visits in 2025 and has developed cross-border capabilities spanning international insurance direct billing, remote consultation and multilingual patient coordination.
Looking ahead, Dr. Hsiang called for greater international cooperation on medical travel and visa facilitation, access to information on medical innovation, and regulatory dialogue around cross-border health data and telemedicine.
"Medical tourism sits at the intersection of healthcare, trade and economic development," Dr. Hsiang said. "Over the next three to five years, China has the potential to become a leading global destination for international medical care."
Read the full story here: https://jiahui.com/en/news/224
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