11-Oct-16 Chinese tourists spent USD215 bn overseas in 2015 – including USD10 bn on medical tourism. Chinese are the world’s biggest spenders when travelling, and their splurging has extended towards health and wellness. The factors boosting medical tourism are propelling international property investment as many will be staying in their destination for a longer period of time or be recurring visitors. [image: Juwai]

11-Oct-16 Baidu - China's biggest search engine - has introduced an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to connect with patients and suggest diagnoses to doctors. The bot is designed to be the first port of call for a person feeling sick. A patient poses a health query to 'Melody', which responds with further questions, and compares responses with Baidu's database. [image: VCG / Getty Images]

11-Oct-16 Hong Kong’s most prominent medical school will revamp its training programme for medical students to give them more comprehensive training not only in public wards, but also for the first time in a new private teaching hospital and a related facility in Shenzhen. [image: South China Morning Post]

05-Oct-16 Chinese conglomerate Fosun International is in advanced talks to acquire Hospital da Bahia, a Brazilian hospital in the city of Salvador, for about BRL1 bn (USD308 mn). Brazilian business daily Valor Economico reported that Fosun is also looking to spend an additional BRL2 bn on other acquisitions to form a Brazilian hospital chain. [image: Fosun International Ltd]

03-Oct-16 Intuitive Surgical is expanding into robotic-assisted catheter-based medical devices through a JV with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical. These devices will use IP from Intuitive Surgical and will focus on diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. R&D and manufacturing will take place in Shanghai. Intuitive Surgical will oversee distribution outside China while the JV will be in charge within China. [image: Asian Scientist Magazine]