The Zhanjiang healthcare security bureau and Guangdong Medical University signed a strategic cooperation agreement on April 23 to jointly build a medical insurance research institute.

The medical insurance research institute is the first of its kind in China built by a prefecture-level city and a medical university. It is planned to be a new-type high-end think tank serving the reform of the local medical insurance system.

The research institute is a non-profit one. It will provide research services in medical insurance and related fields in the form of undertaking projects.

According to Fang Rujiang, head of the Zhanjiang healthcare security bureau, the institute will conduct comprehensive exploration on the theoretical research and management practice of medical insurance, improve the capacity of medical insurance public management services, as well as promote the innovation of medical insurance governance.

Guangdong Medical University was one of the first colleges and universities in China to set up a labor and social security (medical insurance) major in 2005. It has formed a teaching team with a solid foundation in medical insurance theory and strong scientific research capacity.