Medical equipment giant builds precision medicine industrial cluster in southwest China

Global medical equipment giant General Electric HealthCare (GE HealthCare) is speeding up the building of precise medical industry cluster in southwest China's Chengdu, thanks to the city's efforts in promoting further opening up.

Since entering China in 1979, the U.S.-based company has experienced rapid growth over the past four decades.

In May of last year, GE HealthCare China reaffirmed its commitment in China by launching a new precision medicine industrial base in Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town.

"We were already launching products while the project was still under construction, and everything was legal and compliant. This is truly remarkable. Even our most stringent European counterparts initially couldn't believe it. It could only be done in China, specifically in Chengdu. We call it 'China Speed,'" said Chen Heqiang, general manager of China Supply Chain and VP of GE HealthCare China.

According to Chen who oversaw the Chengdu project, the city's high-quality business environment, robust industrial cluster, and unique geographical advantages instilled greater confidence in GE HealthCare China to invest and launch the project there.

Official data show that in 2023, the scale of Chengdu's pharmaceutical and health industry exceeded 350 billion yuan (about 49.9 billion U.S. dollars), making the city a highland for biopharmaceutical innovation, research and development in China.

"Chengdu has allowed everyone to truly see the business environment, the industrial advantages, and the geographical advantages. For instance, Chengdu already becomes a base for the nuclear medicine industry. So we can take root and grow here because of the favorable soil and conditions it provides," Chen said.

GE HealthCare China also recognized good connectivity of Chengdu, eyeing to make full use of facilities including China-Europe freight trains and international airports to build global supply chain of precision medicine in China's western region.

"The Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle is quite unique, and we are thinking about how to make the best use of it, for example the China-Europe freight train. We have a global focus. We're not just building a factory, but also a service center, a customer experience center, and training facilities in the western region. We aim to build it into a precision medicine industrial base in the future," said Chen.

Medical equipment giant builds precision medicine industrial cluster in southwest China

As the week-long National Day holiday entered its fifth day on Saturday, many holidaymakers across China have embarked on return trips by train, car and air, bringing holiday traffic flow to another peak.

Data from the Ministry of Transport showed that China is expected to deliver over 284 million cross-regional trips on Friday, with more than 17.95 million trips made by railway.

Since the beginning of the holiday travel rush on Sept. 29, the national railway network has already transported over 100 million passenger trips, with daily passenger flow consistently exceeding 17 million trips.

As the return passenger flow gradually increased starting Saturday, regional departments across the country have enhanced efforts to ensure transportation services during the period.

Expressways continued to see dense traffic across the country, especially in the metropolises of Shanghai and Guangdong Province's Guangzhou, as well as Changsha City of central China's Hunan Province and Suzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Meanwhile, the country's civil aviation sector is expected to transport more than 2.32 million passengers on the same day, up over 5 percent compared with the previous day.

China sees peak return trips as National Day holiday winds down