Making headway with new health industry cluster
Formerly Huacao Town and the South Hongqiao Central Business District, the Qianwan area in Minhang is now being developed into a health industry highland.
Biomedicine, as a key industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), has undergone rapid growth in the district.
Minhang's South Hongqiao CBD, in particular, relying on its New Hongqiao International Medical Center, is making headway as an biomedicine industrial cluster.
"Shanghai is a geographic frontier that enables us to expand from the domestic market," said a manager of Wego Holding, a leading medical appliances and medicine producer in China. "Huacao Town, with its proximity to Hongqiao Comprehensive Traffic Hub, is a strategic land that connects us with both the domestic and the international markets."
It only took Neosoft Medical Technology Co, an imaging devices supplier for diagnosing and treatment solutions, three days to get approval on construction of its Neosoft Shanghai Sci-tech Center in the South Hongqiao CBD.
"We chose Shanghai for its talent and for the business environment of the Hongqiao CBD," said Liu Jiren, chairman of Neosoft Holding.
Huacao Town, noted for its burgeoning biomedicine industry, attracts a cluster of leading companies like Innovent Biologics, Wego Holding, Yunnan Baiyao, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, Neosoft, Akesobio and Chia-Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Co. It is also gathering upper and downstream firms like the biomedicine cold-chain delivery firm Shengsheng Logistics.
Hospitals and clinics at the New Hongqiao International Medical Center share the medical resources to optimize the services.
"I went to the New Hongqiao International Medical Center for my varicose vein operation. I arrived at the center within 10 minutes after I walked from the Hongqiao Railway Station. The surgeon did the operation on me the same day," said a patient surnamed Qin, who came from Bengbu City, Anhui Province.
The Dr Smile Surgical Clinic where Qin received her surgery is a 200-square-meter miniature medical facility on the first floor of the New Hongqiao International Medical Center.
"We only have a clinic and an operating room, whereas the imaging department, the clinical laboratory, the pharmacy and the inpatient building are shared with other institutes in the medical center," said doctor Zhang Qiang, chief of the Dr Smile Surgical Clinic.
The New Hongqiao International Medical Center now has a shared medical technology service platform, two international comprehensive hospitals, 10 high-end specialized hospitals and some other comprehensive and specialized clinics.
The Huashan Hospital's Hongqiao Branch offers high-quality services in neurosurgery, neurology, dermatology, rehabilitation medicine and integrated TCM and Western medicine.
The New Hongqiao International Medical Center also has its Huacao Community Health Service Center that serves the residents efficiently in comprehensive medicine, TCM, rehabilitation medicine and mental health issues.
