Founded in 1943, the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China is located in Hengyang, a city rich in historyculture. It is one of the first Class A tertiary hospitals accredited by the Ministry of Health of China. Jointly developed by the Hunan Provincial Governmentthe National Health Commission, the hospital serves as a provincial medical centera model public hospital for high-quality development in Hunan. Integrating medical care, teaching, research, prevention, health management,rehabilitation, the hospital is renowned acrossbeyond the province for its expertise in diagnosingtreating complex, critical,rare diseases.

The First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China covers an area of 112.7 mu (approximately 7.5 hectares), with 2,400 licensed beds and 2,651 beds currently in use. The hospital comprises eight clinical centers, 33 clinical departments,eight medicaltechnical departments. It has a workforce of 2,891 staff members, including 506 with senior professional titles256 PhD holders. Among its physicians, 84.42% hold a mastersdoctoral degree. The hospital is home to 13 national-level talent honors and 72 provincial-ministerial-level experts.

The hospital boasts five national key clinical specialties (construction/cultivation programs), 13 provincial key clinical specialties,18 provincial-level specialty development programs. 11 of its disciplines rank among the top 100 nationwide in the STEM systemthe “Chinese Hospital Specialist Reputation Rankings” released by Fudan University.

By advancing new technologiesclinical innovations, the hospital has established four signature capabilities: minimally invasive surgery, interventional procedures, endoscopic techniques,multidisciplinary emergencycritical care. It has also formed eight key specialty clusters: cardiovascular, endocrinologymetabolism, oncology, orthopedics, emergencycritical care, maternalchild health, digestive diseases,neurologyrehabilitation. The hospital is also home to a provincially certified emergency medical rescue team.

Each year, the hospital receives approximately 1.8 million outpatientemergency visits, discharges around 110,000 inpatients,performs over 40,000 surgeries. It ranks second in the province for the proportion of minimally invasive surgeries, third for the proportion of Level IV operations, and fourth for the proportion of discharged patients undergoing surgery among total patients. Its service network covers central, southern,eastern Hunan,extends to western Hunan, northern Guangdong, northern Guangxi,western Jiangxi, serving a population of over 60 million.

Nationally, the hospital holds an A+ rating in public hospital performance assessmentsranks among the top 8% of tertiary public hospitals. It has also maintained the No. 1 position among provincial hospitals in Hunan for two consecutive years.

The hospital is a nationally renowned center for medical talent cultivation. It hosts 23 teachingresearch offices23 accredited residency training programs. It serves as a national practice base for the “Big IdeologicalPolitical Course” initiative, a national standardized residency training base,a national first-class undergraduate education base.

The hospital currently has 19 doctoral supervisors185 master’s supervisors, including those with dual appointments. Over the past decade, it has trained more than 1,200 doctoralmaster’s students. A total of 19 faculty members have received nationalprovincial awards for excellence in teachingmentorship. Its graduates now serve in over 80% of Class A tertiary hospitals across Hunan Province.

The hospital vigorously promotes a “sciencetechnology-driven development” strategy. It is authorized to confer doctoral degrees in clinical medicinehosts a national postdoctoral research workstation. The hospital currently operates eight clinical medicine centers, nine clinical research institutes, 18 national-level research platforms,20 provincial-level platforms.

Over the past five years, the hospital has secured 52 grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), including 16 in 2024 alone—ranking first among provincial hospitals. It has published more than 100 SCI-indexed papers in Q1 journals as ranked by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,in 2024, achieved a major clinical research breakthrough with a publication in The BMJ (Impact Factor: 93.7).

The hospital has been awarded one Second Prize of the National ScienceTechnology Progress Award, along with eight provincial-level prizes for natural sciencescientifictechnological advancement,ten Hunan Medical ScienceTechnology Awards.

Looking ahead, the hospital will remain committed to the principle of “putting peoplelife first”,stay true to its core values of “unity, pragmatism, innovation,wellbeing”. With unwavering dedication, it will continue to pioneer new frontiers in the high-quality development of public hospitals, striving to become a nationally leading center for medical services, educationtraining, scientific research,talent cultivation.