treatments in China often significantly cheaper than in many Western countries<\/a>, but also the country\u2019s growing capabilities in areas such as oncology, cell therapy and other advanced treatments that may be unavailable, unaffordable or harder to access elsewhere.<\/p>\nIt is a nascent but striking reversal for China.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, many Chinese patients travelled to Europe and North America because innovative therapies were not readily available domestically,\u201d said Victor Cao, operations director at China Joyful Medical, a Shanghai-based agency that helps international patients navigate China\u2019s healthcare system.<\/p>\n
For instance, a new drug approved in the US often took around five years to reach China due to slower regulatory approval process, he added.<\/p>\n
Today, aided by a rapidly developing biotech sector and growing clinical expertise in some specialised fields, China can develop its own treatments, particularly in areas such as cancer, helping to attract a niche segment of foreign patients. China\u2019s pharmaceutical industry is now the second largest in the world after the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rapid growth of Chinese biotech companies also means many anti-cancer drugs are now produced locally, reducing import costs and lowering treatment expenses,\u201d said Cao.<\/p>\n
Singapore-based Raffles Medical Group\u2019s three hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing served nearly 37,000 international patients from 130 countries and regions in 2025, up about 7.9 per cent from 2024.<\/p>\n
Phua Tien Beng, managing director of Raffles China Healthcare, told The Straits Times that rehabilitation medicine, paediatrics and dentistry are among the most popular services sought by its international patients, who come from Russia, Kazakhstan, Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n
Short waiting times and efficient processes are key draws for international patients, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients can receive preliminary health screening results on the same day. While cost is a consideration, patients place great value on the overall combination of world-class medical expertise and personalised patient care,\u201d said Phua.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
China\u2019s expansion of visa-free policies to more than 70 countries, as well as growing awareness of China\u2019s healthcare capabilities through social media and word-of-mouth referrals, has contributed to a rise in overseas enquiries, said Cao. Most patients do not need a visa to stay in China for up to 30 days.<\/p>\n
China Joyful Medical now gets 30 to 40 enquiries a month, compared with about 10 before mid-2025, said Cao. Most enquiries come from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, for a mix of complex diseases and more routine ones such as dental and TCM.<\/p>\n
About 20 to 30 per cent eventually result in patients travelling to China, he added.<\/p>\n
Analysts note that this remains an early-stage and niche market rather than a mass medical tourism boom, with foreign patient volumes still small compared to established regional hubs such as Thailand, Singapore and South Korea.<\/p>\n
In 2025, approximately 1.28 million international patients were treated in major hospitals across China, an increase of 73.6 per cent compared with three years earlier, according to reports by Chinese state media citing national data. However, the data does not distinguish between foreigners who travel specifically to China for medical care and those already living in China.<\/p>\n
Experts estimate that foreign patients accounted for less than 0.05 per cent of China\u2019s overall patient volume. In 2025, China\u2019s primary-level healthcare institutions handled 5.56 billion patient visits.<\/p>\n
Dr Linjia Zhang, an associate professor of economics at Xi\u2019an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, said China\u2019s inbound medical tourism market is still in an early growth phase.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what we observe, a significant share of demand among international patients still comes from expats already living in China. Overall, while the market is warming up, it has not yet reached the stage of large-scale cross-border flows,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The global medical tourism market was valued at US$38.2 billion (S$49.2 billion) in 2025 and is projected to hit US$46.78 billion in 2026, ballooning to US$250.02 billion by 2034, according to market research firm Fortune Business Insights. So far, the Chinese market accounts for only about 1.3 per cent.<\/p>\n
Cui Cui, head of Asia healthcare research at American securities and investment banking firm Jefferies, said China\u2019s key edge lies in complex oncology and advanced therapeutics, which is not in direct competition with neighbours such as South Korea, which specialises in cosmetic procedures.<\/p>\n
One treatment that is gaining attention is CAR-T, a cutting-edge form of cancer immunotherapy.<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/00e1f9d76aa8e57cf2a6c4707c99e5fa705cc480baff4e561f734d3f89a15018.webp\")
<\/p>\n
This photo taken on May 21, 2024 shows a doctor conducting cosmetic eyelid surgery on a patient at a hospital in Shenyang, in north-eastern China’s Liaoning province.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n
Cui said China\u2019s seven approved CAR-T products, several of which were developed by domestic biotech firms, typically cost between US$150,000 and US$200,000, compared with about US$500,000 in the US, before hospitalisation costs.<\/p>\n
China Joyful Medical\u2019s Cao gave a similar estimate, saying that CAR-T treatment in China costs roughly one third of that in the US. He attributed the lower costs to factors including domestic manufacturing, China\u2019s growing biotech industry, and policies that have helped reduce the price of innovative medicines.<\/p>\n
Other draws are cheaper dental services and traditional Chinese medicine.<\/p>\n
Cao said dental implants in China cost about US$2,000 to US$3,000 per tooth, compared with roughly US$5,000 to US$8,000 in Australia.<\/p>\n
He cited another example of an Australian patient he had arranged to travel to Anhui province for dental veneers after finding it was significantly cheaper in China than at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe treatment was split into two appointments one week apart. Between the visits, he travelled to Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yiwu and got a holiday out of it too,\u201d said Cao.<\/p>\n
Another attraction is China\u2019s integration of TCM and Western medicine, which Cao said allows doctors to offer holistic treatment plans in areas such as post-cancer rehabilitation and chronic disease management.<\/p>\n
Social media has played a growing role in exposing foreign audiences to China\u2019s healthcare system.<\/p>\n
On TikTok and YouTube, videos of foreigners documenting their positive experiences of treatments such as tooth scaling, MRI scans and acupuncture have gained traction, and they often cite the combination of lower costs and shorter waiting times as the main draws.<\/p>\n
A British social media user who goes by Amie in November 2025 posted on TikTok that she had flown to Beijing to treat chronic stomach issues that doctors in her home country were unable to resolve.<\/p>\n
Her videos, which praised the efficiency of Chinese medical services after she received treatment within two weeks at a cost of just 2,800 yuan (S$530), sparked discussion among Chinese netizens, many of whom wondered if an influx of foreign patients would clog up Chinese hospitals.<\/p>\n
Given the current volume of foreign patients, Jefferies\u2019 Cui said such concerns are unfounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut public sentiment is worth taking seriously as China\u2019s healthcare system is already strained domestically, especially in top-tier hospitals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
If China wants to draw more medical tourists, it would need a dedicated medical visa system, stronger international insurance partnerships, multilingual services and better cross-border follow-up practices, Cui said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, international patients mainly rely on TikTok and word of mouth rather than established referral networks. These are structural gaps and would need time to improve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Xi\u2019an Jiaotong-Liverpool University\u2019s Zhang, whose research focuses on tourism economics, said the competition in the medical tourism sector is not only about who has the best medical expertise but also how smoothly the overall system works.<\/p>\n
\u201cCountries that can reduce uncertainty and make the patient journey more predictable will have a clear advantage,\u201d said Zhang.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many ways, China already has the medical capacity; what it is still building is international recognition and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIJING \u2013 After exhausting all her treatment options for myeloma over five years in her home country, New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-751628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}