How China-Central Asia health cooperation is gaining momentum

Over the past decade, health collaboration between China and Central Asian nations has significantly deepened, with northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region emerging as a key hub.

Since 2015, Xinjiang has implemented clear action plans to establish itself as an international medical service center, providing high-quality care to neighboring countries. By the end of 2023, the region had treated over 25,000 international patients.

Cross-border medical services 

Xinjiang has established international medical service departments in five top tertiary hospitals, offering 500 dedicated beds. These units feature foreign-language medical guides and nursing staff as well as standardized management protocols. Crucially, they have built cross-border telemedicine platforms connecting 22 major hospitals in neighboring countries.

In January 2024, four hospitals in Xinjiang signed cooperation agreements with the International Medical Center in Tajikistan. Their in-depth cooperation focuses on areas such as telemedicine, technical exchanges and academic exchanges to achieve mutual enhancement and learning.

In December 2023, a Key State Lab of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University signed a deal with the Kazakhstan National Medical Science Center to enhance cooperation on prevention and treatment of high-incidence diseases in Central Asia. 

In 2023, a multidisciplinary team from the hospital assisted in performing Kazakhstan's first successful "ex-vivo liver resection and autologous liver transplantation," marking a milestone in bilateral medical cooperation.

Nurturing medical talent

Xinjiang Medical University annually hosts over 100 medical students from Central Asia, fostering long-term academic exchanges.

For example, in 2024, Xinjiang Medical University launched a five-year joint undergraduate program in Traditional Chinese Medicine with the Urgench Branch of Tashkent Medical Academy in Uzbekistan. So far, 17 students have been studying through this program.

In 2023 and 2024, the university has dispatched 185 top medical experts across various specialties to all five Central Asian nations. These experts provided complex case diagnosis, health education, technical training and research collaboration locally.

Advancing TCM and research

Cooperation also extends to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and research. In April 2025, the Sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting emphasized deepening health collaboration, including establishing TCM centers and promoting herbal cultivation and processing.

The China-Uzbekistan TCM Center, established in 2023, is now Uzbekistan's most advanced oral drug production demonstration base. Joint labs have also been set up with Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and others, focusing on natural medicines and biologics.

An overseas TCM Center was jointly established by Xinjiang Medical University and Astana Medical University in Kazakhstan in 2018, providing traditional medicine services locally.