The National Health Commission has issued several documents on the construction of smart hospitals recently, and many local areas have since released road maps and timetables for their introduction.

According to the National Health Commission, smart hospitals refer to hospitals that use information technology to provide smart services such as appointments, medical services, waiting reminders and hospital navigation to the patients.

The Central Hospital of Wuhan announced on March 28 that it has built the first smart hospital nationwide.

According to the hospital, the average time for the whole process for patients to see a doctor in the hospital has been reduced from three hours to one and a half hours since it launched its smart services.

And in the outpatient hall of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, all the outpatient services, from purchasing medical records booklets, making appointments to printing inspection reports and receiving medicines, are now self-service.

In the hospital's wards, patients can also book an appointment for a medical examination and evaluate doctors and nurses from their bed.

And the smart hospital beds offer real-time monitoring of the patients' vital signs using the technology of the internet of things.