Health services focus in Xiongan's development

Building Xiongan into a healthy city where residents can enjoy a better quality of life and live longer is one of the development concepts for the future city, said the top official of Xiongan New Area in Hebei province.

Chen Gang, director of the area's administrative committee, made the remark on Thursday during a health forum themed "Healthy Xiongan and healthy future".

"Unlike in other big cities, we want residents in Xiongan to have more time for leisure and relaxation, rather than spending hours commuting on public transport," Chen said.

In the future, every Xiongan resident will have access to urban public spaces such as parks and greenways within five minutes of walking, according to a planning outline of the new area.

Other places for people's daily needs, such as schools, medical institutions, community centers, shopping centers and express parcel stations, can be reached in less than 15 minutes, it said.

"One common feature of developing countries is that the pace of urbanization is speeding up," Diego Aulestia Valencia, chairman of the Geneva chapter of the Group of 77 for 2019, said at the second Xiongan International Health Forum. "Improving cities' productivity and providing people with better living conditions have become two necessary targets."

He added that the two targets are closely connected with health.

Government officials, professors, business managers, researchers and medical doctors exchanged health ideas during the two-day forum in Langfang and some provided suggestions for the development of healthcare in Xiongan.

Huang Jiefu, chairman of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, said the development of the healthcare industry in Xiongan should integrate the different roles played by government, the markets, and science and technology.

"We should make full use of the area's advanced concepts and special policies to develop the Chinese medicine industry, and promote the heritage and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine," said Wang Guoqiang, chairman of China Association of Chinese Medicine.

Located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, Xiongan will serve as a center for receiving noncapital functions from Beijing, thus helping the capital ease its "big city malaise", Chen said.

The noncapital functions include some universities, research institutes, medical institutions, company headquarters and financial institutions, according to the plan.

Among others, medical institutions have started playing their role in building up the area's health services.

About 45 major hospitals and more than 100 medical experts from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region have come to Xiongan to work on the area's health planning and development, according to Chen.

Construction has started on a new hospital in the area that's supported by Beijing's Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University. A national medical center will also be built in the new area.

"All these efforts will help improve the level of health services in Xiongan, and thus help attract talent involved in Beijing's noncapital functions," Chen said.