| Independently reported | |
| Principal designated zone | Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, Hainan, approved 2013[3] |
|---|---|
| Legal mechanism | State Council decisions of 2018 suspending central drug and device approval rules inside the zone[1] |
| Governing provincial plan | Integration and Innovation Reform Plan, Hainan Provincial People’s Government, with 10 goals and 34 measures[2] |
| Stated target | World-class medical tourism destination and medical technology innovation centre by 2030[2] |
| Zone visitors, first two months of 2023 | 34,651, up 37.2 per cent year on year[3] |
| Patients using specially licensed drugs or devices, same period | 1,546, up 58.4 per cent year on year[3] |
| Chinese residents among foreign patients in South Korea (2025) | 30.8 per cent of 2.01 million, the largest single group[4] |
| Bands apply only to the rows beneath them. There is no primary-record band in this table because no Chinese government instrument or statistical release could be opened for this article; the legal and policy rows rest on professional legal analysis and specialist policy reporting, and the zone figures on Chinese state media. No national Chinese statistic on foreign patients treated in China was located. The zone publishes no breakdown between foreign and domestic patients, so its visitor and patient counts must not be read as counts of foreign medical travellers. No typical cost range is given because no official Chinese source publishes prices paid by foreign patients. | |
Medical tourism in China is dominated by a single designated zone on Hainan island, and the zone’s central purpose is more easily described as import substitution than as inbound medical tourism. Its distinguishing privilege is the right to use drugs and devices that are licensed abroad but not approved in China, which principally benefits Chinese patients who would otherwise travel overseas to obtain them. The best-evidenced fact about China in this field concerns the opposite direction of travel: Chinese residents are the largest single group of foreign patients recorded in South Korea.
The Boao Lecheng zone
The Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in Hainan was established in 2013 with State Council approval and has since received a series of preferential policies. By early 2023 it was reported to have 25 medical institutions in operation, public, private and international, with a further 24 under construction or in preparation, and to have introduced around 300 urgently needed drugs and devices through partnerships with close to 80 manufacturers in 18 countries.[3]
Named international participants include Singapore’s Raffles group and South Korea’s JK Plastic Surgery. Ruijin-Hainan Hospital, affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, began trial operations in December 2021 as the zone’s first public hospital.[3]
The regulatory privilege
What makes the zone unusual is a suspension of ordinary national medicines regulation inside its boundaries. A State Council decision of 29 December 2018 suspended certain central drug regulations within the zone and allowed Hainan to approve special imports of unapproved drugs. A companion decision suspended the pre-approval requirement for imported Class II and Class III medical devices. The Hainan provincial government then issued interim rules for clinically urgent imported devices.[1]
For devices, applications are made by licensed top-tier hospitals inside the zone for products already marketed abroad and urgently needed clinically. The foreign manufacturer must supply evidence of foreign approval, safety and effectiveness data, clinical study reports, an evaluation of ethnic differences, manufacturing information, post-market safety reports and product and label samples. The provincial health commission assesses the institution and the clinical need and the provincial drug administration takes the final decision, with the institution committing in writing to use the device as declared.[1]
For drugs, patients apply through a medical institution in the zone and Hainan approves the application. The scope is limited to small quantities of unapproved chemical and biological drugs, excluding vaccines, where necessary for urgent clinical need. A supervision platform tracks each imported drug by unique code, and a bonded warehouse holds approved stock so that it can be supplied promptly after approval.[1]
One consequence reaches beyond the zone: data from device use inside it can support a manufacturer’s application for nationwide marketing approval. The zone therefore functions partly as a regulatory on-ramp to the Chinese market, not only as a treatment site.[1]
The provincial reform plan
The framework was extended by an Integration and Innovation Reform Plan issued by the Hainan Provincial People’s Government, following a 2019 implementation plan sometimes called the National Nine Articles. The reform plan contains 10 goals and 34 measures and restates the objective of making the zone a world-class medical tourism destination and medical technology innovation centre by 2030.[2]
Its measures include blockchain-based traceability for unlisted licensed products, a warehouse-first and quarantine-later bonded storage model, acceptance of real-world clinical data from the zone in support of import registration, the removal of several project approval requirements, a practising permit in place of medical institution setup approval, simplified cross-border capital settlement and a supervisory sandbox. Registration of domestic medical practice is to be completed within one working day and foreign registration within five.[2]
On people rather than products, foreign medical personnel working in the zone may obtain a work-type residence permit matched to their contract, and the plan introduces measures to ease entry and stay for foreign medical staff, patients and accompanying persons. On payment, unlisted domestic drugs are brought within a combined public and commercial insurance mechanism, with a global special drug insurance system planned and installment payment options through a commercial platform.[2]
The zone’s own insurance scheme, introduced in 2020, covered 100 drugs for 35 common cancers and 17 rare diseases as at 2022.[3]
Who the zone is for
The zone is described as serving both domestic and international patients, and no breakdown between them is published. The insurance arrangements, the drug access pathway and the stated hope of attracting patients who currently seek treatment overseas all point to Chinese patients as the principal intended beneficiaries, with officials describing foreign demand, particularly from Southeast Asia, as a prospect rather than a result.[3]
This matters for how the zone’s figures should be read. The 34,651 visitors and 1,546 patients reported for the first two months of 2023 are not foreign patient counts, and using them as such would misstate the evidence.[3]
Chinese patients abroad
The clearest quantified fact about China in this field is produced by another country’s statutory counting system. On figures the South Korean health ministry released in April 2026, China accounted for 30.8 per cent of the 2.01 million foreign patients treated in Korea in 2025, the largest single nationality, ahead of Japan at 29.8 per cent. More than 62 per cent of the Korean caseload was dermatology, indicating the nature of much of that travel.[4]
That is a share of a Korean total rather than a count of Chinese residents travelling for treatment, and it captures one destination only.
Limits of the evidence
This entry is weaker in its sourcing than most country entries on this site, and the weakness is disclosed rather than concealed. No Chinese government instrument, statistical release or ministry page could be opened for it, so the legal description rests on professional legal analysis of the State Council decisions and the policy description on specialist policy reporting, while the zone’s operating figures come from Chinese state media. Exact dates are incomplete: the device decision’s date and the provincial interim rules’ date were not established, and the reform plan’s year of issue was not stated in the source consulted. No national statistic on foreign patients treated in China was located, and the zone’s published counts do not distinguish foreign from domestic patients.
See also
- Medical travel for unavailable treatments, the demand the zone’s drug pathway is designed to retain
- Medical tourism in South Korea, whose statutory count records the Chinese outbound flow
- Medical tourism clusters, the designated-zone model Boao Lecheng represents
- Off-label treatment, adjacent to the use of products not approved nationally
- Medical tourism and foreign investment, the channel the reform plan seeks to widen
References
- Covington and Burling. China Launches New Product Pathways in Hainan Special Zone. March 2019. Independently reported: the analysis was opened and the State Council drug decision of 29 December 2018, the companion device decision, the provincial interim rules, the application and evidence requirements for devices, the review split between the provincial health commission and drug administration, the limits on drug quantities and the exclusion of vaccines, the traceability platform and bonded warehouse, and the use of zone data to support nationwide registration were read. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- China Briefing. Hainan Medical Tourism Zone: What’s in the Integration and Innovation Reform Plan?. Independently reported: the article was opened and the identity of the Integration and Innovation Reform Plan and its issuing provincial government, the 2019 predecessor plan, the count of 10 goals and 34 measures, the 2030 objective, and the measures on traceability, bonded storage, real-world data, approval simplification, foreign medical personnel residence permits and insurance were read. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- China Daily, republished by the State Council service portal. Hainan’s special health zone pulls in more patients. 10 April 2023. Independently reported: the article was opened and the 2013 State Council approval, the institution counts, the early 2023 visitor and patient figures, the product and manufacturer counts, the named international participants, the Ruijin-Hainan Hospital trial opening, the 2022 insurance coverage, and the statement that foreign demand is an aspiration rather than a reported result were read. This is Chinese state media and is treated accordingly. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
- Korea JoongAng Daily. Number of foreign patients top 2 million for first time in 2025. Reporting figures released by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare on 24 April 2026. Independently reported: the article was opened and the Chinese and Japanese shares of the Korean total and the specialty breakdown were read. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Sourcing note: this entry carries no primary-record band because no Chinese government instrument or statistical release could be opened for it. The legal mechanism is taken from a law firm’s published analysis of the relevant State Council decisions, the policy content from specialist policy reporting, and the operating figures from Chinese state media, each labelled in place. The zone’s visitor and patient counts are expressly not presented as foreign patient numbers, because no foreign and domestic breakdown is published. No figure has been estimated.