(Yicai Global) Sept.20 -- Zhejiang province's Health and Family Planning Commission has approved Quancheng International Health Medical Management Center Co.'s sharing model for medical resources at its Medical Mall in the eastern province's capital Hangzhou, state-run CCTV Finance reports.

The approval enables the firm to provide shared services related to inspections, pathology, ultrasound, medical imaging, medical departments, pharmacies and operating rooms for the mall's medical companies.

Medical Mall is a hospital consisting of a number of different medical institutions, allowing resource sharing and thereby reducing investment requirements.

The city's Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital established the first Medical Mall in June this year, located in Hangzhou Tower in the city's Jianggan district.

The other areas of Hangzhou Tower are dedicated to shopping, thus making the Medical Mall a combination of shopping and medical care. Customers can enjoy their shopping experience first and then obtain medical care afterwards, easing anxiety and fears associated with traditional hospital visits. High flows of shoppers into the shopping areas also lead to higher patient numbers at the Medical Mall.

Transactions made in China's medical sharing market in 2016 were about CNY15.5 billion (USD2.36 billion), up 121 percent annually, preliminary estimates show. This figure is expected to reach CNY60 billion by 2020.

Medical groups engaged in the sector vary in terms of quality due to a lack of unified standards and naming rules.

Under the existing platform structure, there are doctors operating outside and inside the system, while some internet platforms are also classifying themselves as medical groups, said Dong Fating, secretary-general at the Chinese Medical Group Alliance.