The 13th Cross-Strait Hospital CEO Forum was held on Sept 6 in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. Cao Xuetao, vice-minister of the National Health Commission (NHC), addressed the opening ceremony.

In his speech, Cao said that the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China further outlined a blueprint for further deepening reform comprehensively, opening up new horizons for cross-Strait integrated development in various fields.

It is necessary for medical professionals from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to strengthen mutual learning and exchanges, share experiences of coordinated development and governance in medical care, medical insurance and pharmaceuticals, and explore effective measures to promote the expansion of high-quality medical resources at grassroots levels and ensure balanced distribution.

He also called for efforts to make sure that Taiwan compatriots can jointly share the new opportunities in Chinese modernization and the new achievements the mainland made in the development of the health industry in the process of deepening public welfare-oriented reform of public hospitals and improving policies of investment, staffing, pricing and salary distribution.

Co-sponsored by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine and several social organizations in Taiwan, the Cross-Strait Hospital CEO Forum has been held for 13 sessions and has become an important platform for exchange and interaction among hospital managers across the Strait.

The 13th forum attracted more than 1,000 experts and scholars from both sides of the Strait, including more than 150 representatives from Taiwan.