Founded on March 1, 1864, Shanghai General Hospital (Shanghai First People’s Hospital) is one of the oldest general hospitals in China. It was renamed the General Hospital in 1877, became the Shanghai Red Cross Hospital in 1981, was among the first hospitals in China to be rated Grade 3, Class A in 1992, and became affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2002.

In 2006, to promote a more balanced distribution of high-quality medical resources, the hospital took the lead in opening a southern branch in Songjiang District, creating a new pattern of development. Today it operates northern (Hongkou) and southern (Songjiang) campuses covering about 295,000 square meters. The hospital has always held the title of Shanghai Civilized Unit and has many times been honored as one of the National Top 100 Hospitals, an Advanced Unit of the National Health System and a winner of the National May Day Labor Award. In the Fudan ranking for 2023 it is placed in the A tier.

The hospital has 4,206 staff, including 570 with senior titles, 1,820 approved beds, and 68 tertiary clinical and medical technology disciplines across its two campuses. In 2019 it received 4.3 million outpatient and emergency visits, discharged 129,600 patients and performed 111,000 operations, with an average length of stay of 6.26 days.

Over its long history the hospital has brought together many renowned Chinese medical experts and created many national firsts, including China’s first hepatic lobectomy, the first reconstruction of a thumb by toe transfer, the first operation under acupuncture anesthesia, the first domestically made vectorcardiograph and the first prototype of a domestically made temporary cardiac pacemaker.

The hospital has 1 national clinical medical research center, 1 key discipline of the Ministry of Education, 8 national key clinical specialty construction projects, and a number of Shanghai clinical medical centers, emergency centers, leading key disciplines, key laboratories and quality control centers, as well as an eye research institute. Its ophthalmology and clinical pharmacy have ranked among the top ten nationally in the Fudan specialty reputation ranking. The hospital has set up a clinical research institute and works with research institutes and companies on minimally invasive devices, medical imaging and artificial intelligence, new medical materials and surgical robots.

The hospital performs a range of advanced operations and runs 22 multidisciplinary (MDT) clinics for diseases such as breast cancer and colorectal cancer. It completed Shanghai’s first operation with a fourth-generation da Vinci robot, and built China’s first 5G ambulance and a 5G emergency command center. During the China International Import Expo it was a designated hospital for several visiting heads of state.

In 2019 the hospital received 93 grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and published 320 SCI papers. It has passed the Ministry of Education accreditation of clinical medicine programs, and has 29 doctoral and 37 master’s programs, 92 doctoral supervisors and 168 master’s supervisors, 20 national standardized residency training bases and 3 national specialist training bases.

The hospital was the first in China to propose the “six beams and six pillars” hospital total quality management (h-TQM) system. Upholding the service concept of “everything centered on patients” and the mission of “public good and benevolence, helping the world toward excellence”, it promotes a culture of “quality, innovation and sharing”.

Cover photo by Antigng, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.