On April 22, Chongqing Health Commission and the Health Commission of Sichuan Province signed a cooperation agreement on promoting the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and the integrated development of Sichuan-Chongqing health industry, to provide the public with superior, more efficient and more convenient health services.

Build more exchange platforms and smooth cooperation channels

According to the cooperation agreement, health departments in Sichuan and Chongqing will visit each other regularly and stage joint meetings together.

The two regions will also strengthen their policy coordination and action linkage to facilitate continuous new achievements for the Healthy China Action. Besides, they are going to build and share an expert database of the Action and stage the Sichuan-Chongqing Cooperation Forum on the Healthy China Action in turn, thus ensuring the effective implementation of the Action through closer communication and discussion.

The two regions will focus on advancing the collaborative application of big data on tumors, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases, promote the development of smart medical care, and support medical and health organizations and qualified third party institutions in the two regions in the construction of Internet information platforms. Also, they are slated to build a cross-regional specialist alliance and a medical consortium, strengthen academic exchanges, medical cooperation, and scientific research cooperation, and jointly construct a national, regional medical center and a national medical center.

Create a mechanism of cooperation and co-construction in various forms

Chengdu and Chongqing plan to build a joint prevention and control mechanism for major outbreaks and public health emergencies and a health emergency response and coordination mechanism, and co-construct a command center for the prevention and control of public health emergencies, a medical materials reserve center, a drill, and training center and a national, regional center for disease prevention and treatment. Moreover, an information-sharing mechanism of health emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks will be established to realize the timely sharing of early warning information.

Sichuan and Chongqing plan to strengthen collaboration in health scientific and technological innovation, facilitate exchanges and mutual learning in scientific and technological management, and realize trans-provincial sharing of innovation platforms and resource libraries among medical and health organizations and research units. They will also conduct multicenter clinical trials and regional ethical reviews and cooperate in the research on the prevention and treatment of major diseases, cutting-edge technologies, and core technologies.

Realize win-win development through sharing platform information

Through creating health industry-related platforms such as expos, exhibitions, and development forums, Sichuan and Chongqing strive for the policy exchange of the industry development and industrial clusters. They will also support enterprises in the two regions in the development of industries, including biological medicine, medical equipment, leisure and health, health care for the elderly, vacation for the elderly, etc.

By virtue of the platform of China-Singapore (Chongqing), Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, and the carrier of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, Sichuan, and Chongqing is going to explore and deepen international exchanges and cooperation while leading the way in promoting co-construction of the Belt and Road.

A related person in charge of Chongqing Health Commission pointed out that with the focus on closer cooperation in medical services, public health, the health industry, and other respects, Sichuan and Chongqing aim for improvement of the masses’ health and further development of Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.