In the Mao era, ‘barefoot doctors’ got just a few months of training before being sent out to straighten broken bones and administer vaccines.
Now China’s researchers make world-class cancer drugs, cheap surgical robots and cutting edge brain-computer interfaces. Its doctors make AI-powered avatars of themselves to deal with ever more patients.
But China is growing old before it grows rich. Cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular problems are ballooning. And its aging crisis is coming on faster because of the legacy of its one-child policy. How will China adapt?
Ruby Wang worked on the NHS Covid frontline before becoming Head of Health at the British Embassy in Beijing. And now she’s written The China Cure: The Rise of Biotech, AI Medicine and a Global Health Superpower.
She tells Richard Hames how China got from barefoot doctors to high-tech hospitals, what it learned from Covid, and what the NHS could learn from China.
0:00 Intro
02:48 China’s Medical Transformation
9:31 China’s Zero-Covid Response and the Barefoot Doctors
22:32 Bone Glue, Artemisinin and Traditional Chinese Medicine
34:42 Covid QR Codes vs UK Track and Trace, and AI in Chinese Healthcare
45:16 NHS vs China: Digital Health Records and Drug Development
55:40 Chinese Surgical Robots and Brain-Computer Interfaces
1:06:50 China’s Ageing Population, Falling Birth Rate and Who Pays for Healthcare