Yunnan announced at a press conference held in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province on June 22 that it aims to build the a national center for biological medicine and health care during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), chinadaily.com.cn reported.

Yunnan boasts a climate, geographical position, environment and culture favorable for developing the health care industry, said Li Hongmin, the Party chief of the Yunnan Science and Technology Agency.

Li said that there are 6,559 kinds of traditional Chinese medicinal materials available in Yunnan, accounting for 51.4 percent of the national total of TCM ingredients, along with more than 2,000 folk medicine resources and 10,000 recipes. Yunnan has built up the largest library of medicinal plants in the county.

Yunnan is also home to five TCM materials' bases, such as 400,000 hectares of pseudo-ginseng in Southeast Yunnan.

The center will be well positioned to serve both the domestic and foreign markets, as the province is adjacent to Myanmar, Thailand and Laos and is China's gateway to South and Southeast Asia.

The bio-pharmaceutical industry has expanded in recent years with the support of the provincial government. Yunnan has developed a bio-pharmaceutical service system involving TCM materials processing, R&D of biological medicine, medical care service and a medicine trade logistics chain.

Around 115 enterprises are engaged in the medical industry in Yunnan, including 55 generating more than 100 million yuan worth of production value annually. The leading enterprises include Yunnan Baiyao, Dianhong Pharmaceuticals Co and Kunming Pharmaceutical Co.

Modern biotechnology companies, such as Beijing Genomics Institute and the Biochip Research and Development Center, have also sprung up in Yunnan. Seven medicine companies located there have been listed as national top 100 pharmaceutical companies.

The total sales revenue of Yunnan’s biological medicine and health care industry reached 160.7 billion yuan in 2014.

Li Hongmin added that Yunnan will encourage local brands and continue to build biological medicine production and R&D bases. Four more TCM bases, namely materials planting, biological medicine production, rehabilitation service and health care product trade, are expected to be built in Yunnan during the 13th Five Year Plan period.

By Li Xiaoxu, Li Yingqing and edited by Peter Nordlinger