Taiwan's New Southbound Policy is not only concerned with developments in the areas of economy, trade and investment, but also on exchanges and cooperation programs in the areas of public health and healthcare, which are also important elements of the NSP’s "people-centered" development agenda. Taiwan hopes to strengthen cooperation in the areas of health care, public health and epidemic prevention with neighboring countries such as those from Southeast and South Asia, New Zealand and Australia, particularly in bilateral medical certification, cooperation in the development of new medicines and medical materials, medical and health personnel training, inter-agency exchanges, provision of medical aid, and epidemic investigation and prevention.
The first smart hospital in Taiwan, Changhua Christian Hospital, implemented the “New Southbound Medical Cooperation and Industry Chain Development” " plan, to promote the "One Country, One Center" initiative of establishing Taiwan medical centers, and having Thailand as the main focus of the cooperation project. Dr. Chousak Vongsuly, Director of the Bangkok Christian Hospital, said that through the assistance of the Changhua Christian Hospital, they would be able to provide higher quality medical services. As a result, the Bangkok Christian Hospital will be building a new smart hospital—following the Yuanlin Christian Hospital model—that uses IoT, large data analysis and cloud platform to provide efficient automation services. This will ease the hospital's manpower gap and reduce the workload of medical staff, strengthening medical quality while giving patients a more efficient care environment.
In addition to the establishment of Taiwan's medical centers in Thailand, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, future plans include providing personnel training, construction of medical management and medical hardware equipment in order to promote health industry chain linkages between Taiwan and neighboring countries—realizing the goal of two-way talent cultivation—and the forging of new partnerships.