Shanghai, November 11, 2026 — With a focus on traditional Chinese medicine, the international medical department of Shuguang Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has officially begun operations, hospital leaders said on the sidelines of the ninth China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

The move aims to serve a growing number of expats living in Shanghai and foreign patients who travel for the hospital’s expertise, said Lin Xun, president of Shuguang Hospital. “Shanghai has strong capabilities in Western medicine, and what Shuguang Hospital aims to do is to leverage its strengths in TCM, insisting on the integration of Chinese and Western medicine to focus on areas such as chronic diseases, complex illnesses and postoperative rehabilitation,” Lin said.

An integrated door for international patients

Lin said the hospital will keep expanding its service capacity and strengthen its talent pool so that doctors, nurses and testing staff have the language and clinical habits international patients expect. The international medical center is meant as a single platform where specialists from orthopedics, internal medicine, pediatrics, gynecology and other departments can see foreign patients without sending them from building to building.

At the expo, Shuguang signed a cooperation agreement with Russia’s National Medical Research Center for Rehabilitation and Balneology. Beyond large platforms such as CIIE, Lin said the hospital also plans to share experience abroad and widen the countries and services it can offer. “We also hope to promote the dissemination of TCM culture abroad, and encourage mutual learning and exchange between different traditional medicines,” he said.

Rising awareness of TCM among overseas patients

Xu Shifen, director of the international medical department, said some overseas patients have already come on their own after complex care at home left them unsatisfied, hoping TCM can help. “This shows us that our influence is gradually increasing, and the awareness of TCM among overseas populations is rising. When Western medical approaches have limited efficacy, TCM solutions are considered,” Xu said.

She noted TCM’s strengths in sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, joint pain, muscle injuries, and digestive and metabolic disease, and said more people now ask for acupuncture to support weight loss and lipid control after other drugs and therapies left them with side effects or rebound symptoms.

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Editor: Chen Qing @ ShanghaiDoctor.cn

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Source: Adapted from China Daily, govt.chinadaily.com.cn.