Wu Shaofei, who visited the hospital to donate blood, said some of her friends and family members had to go to Guangzhou province to see doctors when they had serious diseases in the past, which was inconvenient and expensive.

"But with the cooperation between the two hospitals, we don't need to go out of Hainan, or even Danzhou," she said. "Most illnesses can be treated in the province and our local medical environment has been improved."

Chen Qiuping, a patient at the hospital, said, "It's convenient for me to have better healthcare near home, and the online booking and payment services provided by the hospital save me lots of time."

Zhang said exchanges between doctors in Hainan and those in first-tier cities have become more frequent, and more Hainan medics have been given opportunities to learn advanced medical technologies in other places.