Medical records of Hong Kong patients seeking healthcare services in Shenzhen can now be safely transferred to the special administrative region’s “eHealth” platform following the opening of a cross-boundary data sharing channel on Tuesday.

The service is expected to benefit more than 300,000 Hong Kong residents receiving medical care in Shenzhen by 2026, particularly frequent travelers and retirees.

With the channel’s pilot application in the medical sector, Hong Kong residents can save their medical checkup reports and images obtained from The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital and the Shenzhen New Frontier United Family Hospital to the SAR’s “eHealth” medical records sharing platform.

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Previously, patients had to bring the documents back to Hong Kong to show them to doctors – a cumbersome and risky process that could damage the files. On occasions, they also had to undergo similar medical examinations again in Hong Kong to obtain complete and clear electronic records.

The data channel, developed by Shenzhen’s Qianhai area, will be applied to more fields in the future, including finance, trade, education and scientific research.

Beyond the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it’s also expected to facilitate data flows among China and other countries and regions to promote digital economy collaboration.