Are biomedical exchange programs inside The People's Republic of China feasible: report of a six-month study at Hubei Provincial Medical College.

Between November 1979 and April 1980 we lived at Hubei Provincial Medical College (HPMC) in Wuchang, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China, in order to organize an exchange program on behalf of the Infectious Disease Section at Yale University School of Medicine. HPMC consists of a medical college, two affiliated Western-style medical hospitals, and a dental hospital. This institution and the living and working conditions arranged on our behalf are described. Ultimately our work centered on epidemic hemorrhagic fever (EHF), a disease with a high incidence in Southern China; the study of EHF may serve as a focal point for ongoing collaborations. Our results suggest that institution-to-institution exchange programs are feasible and will probably become more common in the future.