In the afternoon of August 22, Hiking Group and Yonsei University Severance Hospital held the groundbreaking ceremony for Qingdao Severance Hospital. Gim Yong Hak, Chancellor of Yonsei University, Han Seung-soo, former Prime Minister of South Korea, Lee Soo Jun, South Korea consul general to Qingdao, Yun Do Heum, president of Yonsei University Severance Hospital and Zhang Jianhua, chairman of Hiking Group attended the ceremony. Liu Duping, president of Hiking Group, presided over the ceremony, Zhang Jianhua, Gim Yong Hak, Han Seung-soo, Lee Soo Jun and Yun Do Heum addressed the ceremony, He Qinghua, General Manager of Little Penglai International Health Industrial Co introduced the hospital project before the leading officials from the two sides broke ground for Yonsei University Qingdao Severance Hospital.
       As a part of “Laoshan Bay International Health Town” and a key medical project listed in Qingdao 13^th Five-year Plan, Yonsei University Qingdao Severance Hospital adjoins Binhai Avenue, covering a 200 Mu plot at Laoshan District. The hospital is planned to have 1,000 beds in Phase I, and in the future, the hospital will be built into a general hospital with its own features with 2,000~ 3,000 beds. After completion, an international medical team will take charge of the medical technique, foreign medical experts will work regularly and provide a world class diagnosis and treatment for major diseases at the hospital.
       The construction of Yonsei University Qingdao Severance Hospital is another active trial of Hiking Group to enhance quality of regional medical and eldercare industry. Severance Hospital is one of the most advanced and international hospital in the Republic of Korea. Established in 1995, it has advanced technologies and is the first large-scale comprehensive hospital in the country that passes JCI certification and re-certification. The hospital takes the lead in the world in cancer diagnosis and treatment, especially gastric cancer, prostate cancer and thyroid cancer, the hospital is also famous for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, spinal diseases and osteoarthropathia.