Covering 216 mu, the new Central People's Hospital of Zhanjiang is the biggest medical institution in Guangdong province. [Photo/Zhanjiang Daily]

In less than a month since opening, patient numbers and processing has soared.

At the same time, Zhanjiang No 1 Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine will move to the former site of the Central People's Hospital. Aiming to turn itself into a 3A-grade hospital with Lingnan characteristics, it will spend 170 million yuan on the upgrading and transformation of the old buildings and facilities.

To provide women and children with a commodious and well-connected medical environment, the government earmarked a 72.4-mu construction area worth about 300 million yuan in prime location to build a maternal and child health center. The whole project entails an investment of 580 million yuan.

Currently, there are 3,487 medical institutions in Zhanjiang, accounting for 7.2 percent of the total in Guangdong province. The hospitals received 33.9 million patients in 2016, the highest number in eastern, western and northern Guangdong.

The city will invest 16.5 billion yuan in medical and health fields in the next two years, which involves 1,567 infrastructure projects at both municipal and grassroots levels. Alongside will be the training and hiring of 950 general practitioners, 10,000 assistant physicians and 14,000 nurses as well as 18,000 beds to be added.