This hospital was established collaboratively by the Chinese and Japanese governments and receives subsidies from the Japanese government. It provides medical care for foreigners from a number of countries and regions, and for leaders in the CCP Central Committee. In 2001, it was listed as the base hospital for medical care of leaders in the CCP Central Committee. It has 1,600 beds, over 500 staff with associate senior professional titles or above, and over 1,000 staff with master’s degrees or above.10 It ranked 43rd among the 100 most competitive hospitals in China in 2015.11
The hospital’s urologic surgery department operates a kidney transplant center. “Since it began to perform kidney transplants in 1986, it has accumulated rich clinical experience, standardized perioperative management practices, a high long-term survival rate, and low medical costs. It has achieved a leading position nationally and received good reviews from domestic and international patients.” In 2011, the department had 7 chief physicians (including 3 master’s advisors), 4 associate chief physicians, 3 attending physicians, and 2 residents. It serves as a training base for urology specialists in Beijing.12
Liu Naibo, director of the urologic surgery department, has rich experience in kidney transplant surgery and postoperative complications. He was one of the earliest in China to begin work on laparoscopic living-donor nephrectomy and kidney transplantation. He has led multiple national and hospital-level research programs. In 1989, he studied at Kyushu University in Japan.13
Jiang Yongjin, former director of the urologic surgery department, served as a health expert for senior cadres in 2002. He is a member of the Chinese Medical Association Organ Transplant Subcommittee. He studied kidney transplantation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in England for two years. Jiang has published 40 articles in domestic and international journals. Hehas won one National Science and Technology Research Achievement Award and enjoys special government allowances.14
The hospital has a nationally ranked thoracic surgery department, which performed the first two lung transplants in China in the 1970s. It is now mature in conducting single lung, double lung, and lobar lung transplants, and has a relatively large impact domestically. The department has first-class equipment and has a large group of highly skilled thoracic surgery specialists, most of whom have medical PhDs and master’s degrees. All of its physicians have research or study experience overseas. Some of its professors serve as visiting professors at overseas institutions and have long-term academic exchanges. The department has named honorary professors from the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and other countries. The department has 5 professors, 4 associate professors, and 7 attending physicians and residents. It has 57 beds, including 6 dedicated ICU beds.15 16
Its liver transplant recognition is nearing the international level.17 In 1995, the hospital achieved preliminary success with its first liver transplant. It bills itself as “[having] a team with strong capabilities in liver transplantation and strength in integration.” It “welcomes late-stage and end-stage liver disease patients who need liver transplants to come receive their surgeries; we would give them preferential treatment.”18
Funded by the Ministry of Education, it formed a panel to study liver transplantation in Melbourne and Sydney in 1995, followed by Pittsburgh in the U.S. in 1996. This was the first hospital whose liver transplantation training of this kind was funded by the Ministry of Education.