This hospital was founded in 1866 and currently has 4,800 beds, 230 senior staff, 344 associate senior staff, including 94 experts who enjoy special government allowances from the State Council and 2 academicians.275
Its Urologic Surgery Department enjoys a high academic status in the country and has 11 professors and chief surgeons/physicians, 6 associate professors and associate chief surgeons/physicians, 11 attending physicians, including 9 doctoral advisors and 17 master’s advisors. In 1977, it carried out the first kidney transplant surgery in central south China and has now become one of the largest kidney transplant centers in the region. 276
Its Liver Transplant Center is a main component of its General Surgery Department, which has been designated a national key discipline. It began developing liver transplantation in 2003 and has matured in this now-routine capability. It offers low transplant costs of only about 150,000 RMB. It has a group of experts, with the majority of its doctors holding PhD degrees. It currently has 6 professors, including 2 doctoral advisors and 4 associate professors.277
Its Cardiovascular Surgery Department was established through approval of the State Council in 1980. Its heart transplantation and combined heart-lung transplantation are state of the art. It once completed 4 heart transplants simultaneously on the same day. It claimed to have completed the largest number of heart transplants in the country in 2014.278
Dong Nianguo, the director of cardiovascular surgery department and organ transplant center, has successfully completed the first combined heart-liver transplantation, heart transplant for the youngest recipient (3 months old) and oldest recipient (76 years old) in China. His team has set a national record of completing four heart transplants simultaneously on the same day. Dong has studied in the United States and Switzerland, and made outstanding achievements in heart and lung transplantation.279
The hospital has also carried out a large number of corneal transplants.