According to the South China Morning Herald, Hainan, the southernmost province looking to be the "Hawaii of the East", has set its sights on becoming a medical tourism hub. The People's Liberation Army's (PLA) top hospital will bolster the new project.

海南三亚成为 "免税离岛"的地区之后,最近海南又有新动向——规划将自身打造成为"医疗旅游中心".

Provincial Communist Party secretary Luo Baoming says that the PLA's elite Beijing-based Hospital 301 is set to open its first branch in Hainan late next month, aimed at making Hainan an international medical tourism resort by 2015.

Its Hainan medical centre, in the southern resort of Sanya, will provide medical and rehabilitation services for locals and tourists "who need top-quality medical service in a good environment".

The Hainan Daily's website reported last year that the centre would occupy 186,000 square metres with 675 beds.