The 2026 Conference of the Guangzhou Medical University (GMU) Overseas Medical Training Center and the 23rd International Alliance of Urolithiasis (IAU) and Chinese Urological Association (CUA) Joint Endourology Workshop was held from April 8 to 10 in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
The event brought together nearly 200 physicians from 41 countries, facilitating international exchange in the field of urolithiasis and endourology.
Photo: Guangzhou Medical University
During the conference, the GMU announced plans to set up three new overseas medical training centers in Russia, Italy, and Chile in 2026. These centers will focus on technologies such as minimally invasive urology, tubeless thoracic surgery, and respiratory intervention.
"From 2026 to 2030, we aim to steadily establish five to eight additional overseas centers, building a global network covering Asia, Europe, and South America, while gradually expanding into specialties including respiratory medicine, thoracic surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology," said Zhao Xingcun, president of the GMU.
In 2025, the GMU established an overseas medical training center at Astana Medical University (AMU) in Kazakhstan. Turmukhambetova Anar Akylbekovna, president of the AMU, commented, "This is not merely technical support, but a real transfer of technologies and educational methodologies that make it possible to introduce new training and improve practical competence."
Professor Zeng Guohua, current president of the IAU, noted that China's advanced medical technologies could be shared globally through international academic conferences, remote surgical teaching, and training workshops.
Huang Jinkun, president of the First Affiliated Hospital of the GMU, introduced the hospital's two major international service hubs: the Datansha campus in Guangzhou's Liwan District, which focuses on respiratory medicine, and the Haiyin campus in Guangzhou's Haizhu District, which specializes in urology.
"Through international medical services, we aim to bring our original technologies, products, and innovations to the world, especially to Belt and Road partner countries," he said.
An international participant experiences the endoscopic training equipment of the First Affiliated Hospital of the GMU. (Photo: Chen Jinxia)
The conference also released a consensus document on international medical education and scientific research cooperation, which includes commitments to establishing a regular joint meeting mechanism, promoting credit recognition and joint training programs, launching multi-center research collaborations with data and ethics mutual recognition, and using GMU's overseas training centers to share appropriate technologies.
Additionally, the event arranged a live demonstration of telerobotic surgery using a domestically produced robot, along with advanced surgical procedures covering urological oncology surgery, and urolithiasis surgery.
Reporter | Chen Jinxia
