Parkway Shanghai unveils intelligent orthopedics center

Parkway Shanghai Hospital has launched a center for minimally invasive and intelligent orthopedics, in its latest initiative to create a platform that will bring Shanghai's medical expertise to the world.

Doctors completed a knee replacement surgery on an 84-year-old patient at the facility on Sept 19, the day of its inauguration, assisted by a cutting-edge Mako orthopedic surgical robot.

The hospital by Parkway Shanghai, IHH Healthcare's operating entity on the Chinese mainland, thus became the first international medical institution in Shanghai to introduce the smart technology.

Located within the Shanghai New Hongqiao International Medical Center, which is adjacent to the Hongqiao international transportation hub, the hospital said it sincerely wants to play a role in becoming a gateway for patients from overseas to come to the city.

The hospital, which opened in 2023 with an investment of 1.61 billion yuan ($226 million), was recognized as a "pilot demonstration base for international medical tourism" the same year, at a time when the city's attempts at international medical tourism was quickly gathering pace.

Kenneth Tsang, regional chief executive officer of IHH Healthcare North Asia, said both Shanghai and IHH, one of the world's largest private healthcare providers, are supreme brands.

"IHH can serve as a jump-start position for Shanghai to go international for healthcare. And we don't need to really sell it to the rest of the world, as they know Shanghai is strong. They just don't have enough gateways to come in," said Tsang.

Earlier, some local patients used to travel abroad for medical services. However, after decades of development, domestic cities represented by Shanghai now have high medical standards, with costs potentially only a fraction of those in Japan or Singapore, truly offering great value for money, he said.

"Especially in the field of surgery, domestic doctors may perform five to 10 times more surgeries than their counterparts in Japan, making their experience highly trustworthy to attract overseas patients to Shanghai," said Tsang.

China's visa-free policy, along with Shanghai's overall urban strength and the high standards of its hospitality sector, also position the city as highly promising in the field of international medical tourism, he said.

Some other options the hospital may explore later on include stem cell therapy, in which China is more advanced than some other countries and regions, including Singapore and Malaysia, he added.

Zhang Xianlong, honorary dean of Parkway Shanghai Hospital and head of joint surgery at Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, said the newly launched orthopedics center will introduce internationally advanced equipment and focus on robot-assisted joint replacement, complex hip and knee revision, digital preoperative planning, 3D-printed personalized surgical guides, customized implants and uniportal bilateral endoscopic procedures.

The Mako system excels in orthopedic procedures by combining medical imaging, 3D modeling and navigation-assisted technology. Through precise coordinate registration between patient anatomy, surgical tools and prosthetic implants, the system enables sub-millimeter precision in joint replacement, significantly improving surgical safety and outcomes, experts said.