Shenzhen will accelerate the progress of 76 major health projects and focus on improving its medical resource weaknesses in pursuit of high-quality development in 2023, the city’s health authority said Saturday.

The city will add 3,200 hospital beds throughout the year, with closely watched projects such as the Second Children’s Hospital of Shenzhen and the Guangming hospital of Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital to be completed this year.

The Second Children’s Hospital of Shenzhen, located in Longhua District, has entered the decoration stage and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. It will be put into trial operation in the first half of 2024, with 500 beds planned. 

The scale of the second children’s hospital is twice that of Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, and the hospital can receive up to 10,000 outpatient visits daily upon completion.

During the 2021-2025 period, Shenzhen plans to increase the number of municipal public children’s hospitals to three in a bid to meet increased demand for pediatric services. The second children’s hospital will be built in Longhua while the third children’s hospital will be built in Longgang District.

The Bao’an District Children’s Hospital will also be put into operation in early 2025.

Construction on the Guangming hospital of Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Guangming District has also picked up its pace. 

The hospital’s construction is divided into two phases. The project’s first phase covers an area of about 110,000 square meters, with 2,000 beds planned. It currently has the largest hospital area of a traditional Chinese medicine hospital under construction in China, and is scheduled to be completed by December 2023.

The construction on major platforms for medical cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, such as the Phase II of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, The CUHK-Shenzhen School of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals and the Hong Kong Famous Doctor Medical Center (Pingshan), has also received considerable attention.

The Phase II of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital is scheduled to be completed in 2025, with an addition of 1,000 beds. Upon the project’s completion, the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital will have a total of 3,000 beds.

Shenzhen will also guide one to two Hong Kong-funded medical institutions to settle in Qianhai and promote the development of Shenzhen Qianhai Taikang International Hospital (planned) and two international community health institutions in Qianhai International Talent Hub and E-hub, the northern part of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub.

In 2022, Shenzhen completed fixed assets investment of over 23 billion yuan (US$3.33 billion) in the health care sector, expedited the construction of 89 major health projects, and added 1,920 beds and 27 privately run medical institutions, according to the municipal health commission.

The city had 11 medical institutions wholly owned by Hong Kong and Macao investors as of the end of last year.