Thanks to rapidly developing technology, a new cloud diagnosis platform in Shanghai is benefitting community medical centers. This is our last episode of our special coverage on the topic.

62-year-old Zhou Quanzhen is a frequent visitor to this community medical service center. Today she has an appointment for a scan. Unlike her previous experience in big hospitals, she has the result in less than thirty minutes.

"I used to have to spend more than half a day at the hospital because there were always so many people. Most of the time was spent waiting. Now it's very convenient. It only takes me ten minutes to get to the community medical service center. It's a lot easier to see a doctor," Zhou said.

Scans are sent to a higher-level hospital where a specialist writes a diagnosis report. Most patients can get their scan result within 30 minutes, or even less. This cloud system has been running for about two years, producing more than 190,000 reports.

"Many of our residents from the neighbourhood went to big hospitals before because we didn't have equipment like scanners. They didn't have a choice even though it was a long way to go. Now we have the equipment and the cloud system allows us to cooperate closely with higher-level hospitals. It's much more convenient for our patients and gives our community medical staff more of a chance to learn. Previously they could only see a limited number of cases. But now they can study more cases from higher-level hospitals," Li Qiang, director of Huating Community Medical Center in Shanghai, said.

With its advanced technology, the cloud system allows community medical service centers to take on more patients, relieving the burden on big hospitals. It also saves patients money because they get a ten-percent discount if they are treated at a community hospital.

And other new technology is on the way

In April, Shanghai hosted the biggest exhibition of medical equipment in the Asia-Pacific region, displaying the most advanced medical technology.

"We are working on three-dimensional mobile diagnosis to allow doctors to diagnose from a distance. This will improve medical services in remote areas and community hospitals. We are combining virtual reality technology to help doctors improve diagnoses. The technology will allow us to build the first four-dimensional diagnosis platform in China," Xue Min, CEO of Shang United Imagine Healthcare Co., Ltd., said.

China's current five-year plan emphasises the health sector. The medical technology market is growing and more people are expected to benefit from advanced technology.