Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital

Shenzhen Second People's Hospital — also serving as the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University — is Shenzhen's oldest and most established tertiary hospital, one of the original two hospitals to achieve Grade A tertiary accreditation in the young city. With the motto "strong brain, hard bones, elite burns, and five sense organ leadership," it has built three National Key Clinical Specialties and has consistently ranked in China's national top 100 hospitals, with innovation metrics that lead all of Guangdong Province.

History and Scale: The hospital's roots extend to 1980, when it began as a military medical unit (the former Unit 00049 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army). It was transitioned to civilian control through a series of reorganizations — becoming the Shenzhen Huaqiang Hospital in 1985, then the Shenzhen Red Cross Hospital in 1987 (after merging with the Red Cross outpatient department), and finally taking its current name in July 2001. It was among Shenzhen's first two hospitals to achieve Grade A tertiary accreditation in 1996. The university affiliation with Shenzhen University was formalized in 2008. Today, the hospital operates 1,910 beds across its main campus in Futian District, with plans to expand to 3,000 beds, and employs approximately 3,369 staff. In 2023, it recorded 2.06 million outpatient visits and 91,400 inpatient discharges. It was designated a Guangdong Provincial High-Level Hospital Key Construction Unit in 2018.

Star Specialties: Three departments hold the National Key Clinical Specialty designation: Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, and Burns. The Orthopedics Department — including spine surgery, joint surgery, trauma, and hand surgery — is Shenzhen's largest and most academically productive orthopedic program, with particular expertise in complex spinal deformity correction and joint replacement. The Neurosurgery Department is the core of a broader neuroscience cluster and handles the highest volume of complex intracranial procedures in eastern Shenzhen. The Burns Department is a regional referral center for severe burns and complex wound management. Six departments hold Guangdong Provincial High-Level Key Clinical Specialty status: Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology, Burns, Critical Care Medicine, and Stomatology. Five additional provincial key specialties include Sports Medicine, Urology, Neurology, Nephrology, and Hematology. The hospital has built an unusually strong innovation ecosystem, with 38 imported "Three Famous Teams," four national-level key laboratories, and 25 national standardized residency training bases.

Achievements and Recognition: The hospital has achieved A+ status in the national tertiary hospital performance evaluation for five consecutive years (2018-2022), reaching 70th nationally in 2022 — firmly in the national top 100. Its innovation metrics are genuinely exceptional: it ranked 20th nationally and 1st in Guangdong Province in the China Hospital Innovation and Transformation Ranking. Fifteen disciplines entered the 2023 STEM national top 100. The hospital's Clinical Medicine discipline has ranked in the ESI global top 1% for five consecutive years (2019-2023), and its Nature Index has placed among China's top 100 medical institutions for six consecutive years (2016-2021).

International Services: The hospital operates a VIP and International Medical Service Center providing English-speaking care coordination, expedited specialist appointments, and international insurance direct billing. The orthopedics and neurosurgery departments — both national key specialties — have the most experience with international patients, and many senior surgeons in these departments have completed fellowships in the United States or Europe. The hospital's location in central Futian District, near the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border crossings, makes it convenient for cross-border patients. The hospital's 2022 designation as a Guangdong Provincial Public Hospital Reform and High-Quality Development Demonstration Hospital has brought additional investment in international patient service infrastructure.

Why Choose Shenzhen Second People's Hospital: For international patients requiring complex orthopedic reconstruction, neurosurgical intervention, or burn reconstruction, this hospital's triple national-key-specialty platform provides a depth of surgical expertise that is rare even among China's older academic centers. Its Guangdong-leading innovation ranking — including highest patent commercialization volume — means patients here have access to novel surgical technologies and implants that may not yet be available elsewhere. And as Shenzhen's most historically grounded major hospital, it combines the clinical maturity of a 40-year institution with the dynamism of China's youngest first-tier city.