On the afternoon of February 25, the launching ceremony of Wenzhou Medical “Service for Overseas Chinese” initiated by the WMU National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base and the opening ceremony of the “Wenzhou Medical Service Base for Overseas Chinese” were held in the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University.

Present at the event were Chen Yingxu, vice mayor of Wenzhou, Lyu Yijun, secretary of the Party committee of WMU, Cheng Jinguo, deputy secretary of the WMU Party committee, Zhang Chengbin, member of the WMU Party committee and director of its Organization Department and United Front Work Department, Zhuang Jin, director of Division of Trade in Services of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, Wang Xiaochun, director-general of the Municipal Health Commission, Lin Songqing, member of the leading Party member’s group and chief economist of Wenzhou Bureau of Commerce, Nan Pinren, chairman of Wenzhou Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, Xiang Miu, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Wencheng County Committee and director of its Publicity Department, as well as more than 50 representatives of overseas Chinese leaders, heads of the WMU International Affairs Office and its First Affiliated Hospital, and representatives from Traditional Chinese medicine companies.

Chen Yingxu said that Wenzhou Municipal Party Committee and government attach great importance to the development of traditional Chinese medicine in Wenzhou, which has a long history and profound foundation. He encouraged the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base to assume the mission and responsibility of promoting traditional Chinese medicine to go global, by means of gathering the resources of the whole city and exploring a diversified development path that makes the most of the advantages of WMU, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and overseas Chinese. The export base is expected to constantly improve the level of medical services for overseas Chinese, create a service brand with characteristics of Wenzhou and Wenzhou Medical University, and set a regional example for national service export bases.

Lyu Yijun said that the Party committee of Wenzhou Medical University places a high premium on the construction of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base and has set up special task forces with the municipal party committee and government to jointly plan and promote the construction of the base. He said that Wenzhou is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. “Overseas Chinese serving as a bridge” to promote traditional Chinese medicine to go global is one of the characteristics of our base. He hoped that the base could take this opportunity to integrate the medical resources of WMU and the overseas Chinese from Wenzhou to build a brand of health service for overseas Chinese with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, improve its capacity for services continuously, and strive to become a model in the field of traditional Chinese medicine medical services.

Cheng Jinguo hosted the event.

Zhuang Jin spoke approvingly of the construction of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base. She hoped that this platform could provide overseas Chinese with more considerate and adequate medical services and give full play to the advantages of the overseas Chinese resources to improve the level of the traditional Chinese medicine services export and broaden the development of the base in a whole-process manner through multiple platforms.

Nan Pinren expressed full support for the establishment of the medical service platform for overseas Chinese initiated by Wenzhou Medical University and its affiliated hospitals. Wenzhou Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese will further harness the resources of Wenzhou’s overseas Chinese, establish a long-term cooperation mechanism, adopt different policies based on local conditions, and continuously improve the level of health services for overseas Chinese.

During the meeting, the university signed cooperative agreements with the Wenzhou Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the Publicity Department of Wencheng County Party Committee, and the China-Italy Youth Association respectively on "medical services for overseas Chinese", further expanding the channels of the base for offering traditional Chinese medicine services for overseas Chinese.

After the ceremony, representatives of overseas Chinese leaders visited the physical examination center of the First Affiliated Hospital and experienced a variety of traditional Chinese medicine healthcare services such as acupuncture and moxibustion, physical therapy, and integrated Chinese and Western medicine consultation. The university also cooperated with China-Italy Youth Association to give healthcare lectures entitled “Understanding the Scientific Prevention and Treatment of hepatitis B” and “Drinking Water for Three Factors”.

Wenzhou Medical University was selected as a National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base in 2022, being the only university of western medical science selected in the country at present. Since then, the base has continuously expanded its cooperation chain at home and abroad, carried out a series of education and training programs of integrated traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, held traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine seminars on fighting against Covid-19, promoted the construction of an international physical examination center, and participated in the China International Fair for Trade in Services, to promote high-quality development.

This event is a beneficial attempt of cooperation between the university, hospital, and local government, and an active exploration to broaden the functional layout of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base. At the same time, it also showed the overseas Chinese community the profound and unique charm of traditional Chinese medicine culture and inspired them to actively help traditional Chinese medicine culture go global.

Text translated by Cai Jiami and reviewed by Sun You