Edited by XI Yue (Andie)

Reviewed by SI Xiaocai (Shelia)

August 19 is the 6th China's Medical Workers' Day. On this special day, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, affiliated with Zhejiang University School of Medicine (hereinafter referred to as SRRSH) launched the “Heart to Heart, Love Lasts Long” program, a public welfare program of international diagnosis and treatment for difficult and rare diseases. It aims to further improve the domestic diagnosis and treatment capacity of difficult, severe, and rare diseases and benefit more patients and their families suffering from related diseases. It will provide public consultation services for relevant patients nationwide who meet the assistance requirements.

In September 2017, SRRSH became the first Chinese member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. Through the Care Network relationship, SRRSH and Mayo Clinic experts collaborated to deliver multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment services to SRRSH patients. Over the past six years, 528 Chinese patients with difficult and rare diseases have benefitted from quality remote consultation medical services through their SRRSH providers, including Mayo Clinic eConsults and eTumor Boards. With additional input from Mayo Clinic experts, the SRRSH team makes the best international diagnosis and treatment plans available to the Chinese people at their doorsteps, thus earning a good reputation among patients.

Mr. Zhang (a pseudonym) from Hangzhou in his prime is a patient benefiting from international multidisciplinary cooperation in diagnosis and treatment. In February 2019, he was found to have a space-occupying lesion in the right lobe of the liver. CT showed the lesion was in segment VIII and cholangiocarcinoma was considered. He then came to SRRSH for its international multidisciplinary consultation and received laparoscopic right hemihepatectomy + hepatic hilar lymph node dissection + cholecystectomy. After the surgeries, expert teams from SRRSH and Mayo Clinic consulted on the postoperative comprehensive treatment plan. SRRSH accepted a recommendation from Mayo Clinic experts to provide individualized treatment for Mr. Zhang according to his tumor staging and conditions with the guidance of the latest international guidelines. At present, Mr. Zhang’s follow-up CT images and tumor markers show no signs of tumor recurrence. His disease-free survival has been 4 years and 5 months.  

Zhejiang province is a front-runner in promoting common prosperity and modernization with its quality development. Against this background, SRRSH rolled out the public welfare program of international diagnosis and treatment for difficult and rare diseases in the hope of offering more quality public services for relevant indigent patients, and increasing its comprehensive diagnosis and treatment capacities in this field. The hospital will continue to provide the Chinese people with better and more individualized multidisciplinary international diagnosis and treatment services.

Detailed case-collection rules of the public welfare program at phase I are as follows:

1.    Collection Time

September 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024

2.    Forms of Assistance

Patients who seek for international multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment services and are reviewed and selected by the expert team of SRRSH, can request a written consult from Mayo Clinic experts and SRRSH expert teams. After consultations, patients or their families can receive the suggestions of international multi-disciplinary consultations in Chinese and English issued by SRRSH. Whether to adopt the suggestions is decided by patients or their families. If patients need to receive other medical treatment, examination, etc. in SRRSH before and after international multidisciplinary written consultations, they shall be charged accordingly, which is not supported by this public welfare program.

3.    Recipients

Recipients in the public welfare program shall meet one of the following conditions:

i.             After receiving diagnosis and treatment at domestic tertiary A-level hospitals, patients with difficult and rare diseases still do not have a definitive diagnosis;

ii.            Patients who receive diagnosis and treatment at domestic tertiary A-level hospitals but the treatment is ineffective;

iii.           Patients with difficult and rare diseases which are considered to have clinical or teaching significance by the expert team of SRRSH;

iv.          Patients with financial difficulties and complex conditions.

4.    Application Process

Physicians or patients or their families file an application — the international diagnosis and treatment team of SRRSH reviews applicants’ medical records — selected patients sign informed consent forms — the patients enter the consultation process — specialty and expert teams designated by SRRSH start the international remote written consultations — the patients receive the international multidisciplinary consultation suggestions in Chinese and English issued by SRRSH.

5.    Contact Us

Contact Person: Zhan Yufen

Consultation Hotline: 19560178627 (also the Wechat ID)

Please contact us during 8:00-12:00 and 14:00-17:00 from Monday to Friday