Why hospitals in China, including Raffles Medical, are attracting more foreign patients

BEIJING – After exhausting all her treatment options for myeloma over five years in her home country, New Zealander Emma Holden travelled to Shanghai on the recommendation of a fellow countryman, who had successfully battled the same cancer in the Chinese city.

There, the 36-year-old sought CAR-T, a type of immunotherapy that re-engineers a patient’s own immune cells to recognise and attack cancer cells. On the third round of the treatment, which was not yet commercially available in New Zealand, the myeloma, a type of blood cancer, was brought under control in October 2025.

Holden’s story, highlighted at an international hematology forum in Shanghai in November 2025, is part of a small but growing trend of foreigners turning to China for medical care – ranging from advanced cancer therapies and innovative drugs to dental implants, health screenings and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Experts said the draw is not only price, with treatments in China often significantly cheaper than in many Western countries, but also the country’s growing capabilities in areas such as oncology, cell therapy and other advanced treatments that may be unavailable, unaffordable or harder to access elsewhere.

It is a nascent but striking reversal for China.

“In the past, many Chinese patients travelled to Europe and North America because innovative therapies were not readily available domestically,” said Victor Cao, operations director at China Joyful Medical, a Shanghai-based agency that helps international patients navigate China’s healthcare system.

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.

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’s pharmaceutical industry is now the second largest in the world after the US.

“The rapid growth of Chinese biotech companies also means many anti-cancer drugs are now produced locally, reducing import costs and lowering treatment expenses,” said Cao.

Singapore-based Raffles Medical Group’s 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.

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.

Short waiting times and efficient processes are key draws for international patients, he added.

“Patients 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,” said Phua.

Easier access

China’s expansion of visa-free policies to more than 70 countries, as well as growing awareness of China’s 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.

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.

About 20 to 30 per cent eventually result in patients travelling to China, he added.

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.

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.

Experts estimate that foreign patients accounted for less than 0.05 per cent of China’s overall patient volume. In 2025, China’s primary-level healthcare institutions handled 5.56 billion patient visits.

Dr Linjia Zhang, an associate professor of economics at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, said China’s inbound medical tourism market is still in an early growth phase.

“From 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,” he said.

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.

China’s medical edge

Cui Cui, head of Asia healthcare research at American securities and investment banking firm Jefferies, said China’s 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.

One treatment that is gaining attention is CAR-T, a cutting-edge form of cancer immunotherapy.

Cui said China’s 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.

China Joyful Medical’s 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’s growing biotech industry, and policies that have helped reduce the price of innovative medicines.

Other draws are cheaper dental services and traditional Chinese medicine.

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.

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.

“The 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,” said Cao.

Another attraction is China’s 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.

Social media exposure

Social media has played a growing role in exposing foreign audiences to China’s healthcare system.

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.

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.

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.

Given the current volume of foreign patients, Jefferies’ Cui said such concerns are unfounded.

“But public sentiment is worth taking seriously as China’s healthcare system is already strained domestically, especially in top-tier hospitals,” she said.

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.

“Currently, 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,” she said.

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s 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.

“Countries that can reduce uncertainty and make the patient journey more predictable will have a clear advantage,” said Zhang.

“In many ways, China already has the medical capacity; what it is still building is international recognition and trust.”