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]

10-Oct-16 As state spending on health continues to increase - in the 2015-16 fiscal year it increased 7% - demand for private and specialist services are also expected to increase as the middle class grows. With this comes an opportunity for the private sector to work with the public sector, NGOs and the government to improve the situation across the country. [image: Aye Zaw Myo / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND]

10-Oct-16 Vietnam's health insurance coverage will reach around 79% by the end of 2016 compared to the target of 76%, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien reported. The Minister said the sector is also likely to surpass the target for hospital beds per 10,000 people, estimated to reach 25 beds per 10,000, while the goal is 24.5. [image: VNA]

09-Oct-16 Medical tourism to Thailand from the UAE is expected to remain strong despite changes to Abu Dhabi health insurance policies. In Apr-16, the Health Authority cut benefits to encourage medical treatment in Abu Dhabi. "We have seen no impact yet of the changes in health insurance policies in Abu Dhabi," said Tanes Petsuwan from Tourism Authority of Thailand. [image: Saeed Khan / AFP]