Neurology · Boao Lecheng cluster
Treatment for Parkinson's disease in China, on Hainan
The regimen no longer holds the day, your feet stick to the floor in a doorway, and at home they simply added a dose. One visit reviews the diagnosis and the whole regimen and assesses you for deep brain stimulation: four days of check-up instead of six months of waiting lists, walking technique taught on the same trip. There is no cellular programme for this diagnosis in the cluster, and we say so at once. The first step is free: Dr Yang reads Russian records in the original and says whether there is any point in coming.
About the condition
Where a Parkinson's review starts
Two things are ruled out before any talk of travel. First, drug-induced parkinsonism: metoclopramide, typical antipsychotics and risperidone give the same picture, and only the prescribing doctor may stop or change such a drug. Second, atypical parkinsonism: early falls, rapid progression, early incontinence and fainting, restricted downward gaze, poor response to adequate levodopa. With any one of these, the diagnosis is reviewed first — not the method.
Four things are enough: the latest neurologist's report, prescriptions with doses and timings, scans, and a three-day diary — time, tablet, "on" or "off", freezing and extra movements. Phone photographs will do. Do not wait for the diary: send reports and prescriptions now. Start the diary tonight — by the time the doctor replies you will have what is usually missing.
Back comes a written review on WhatsApp — text, not a sales call: what the documents show, what is missing, whether there is any point in coming and what to do if not. Dr Yang signs it. A refusal on the documents is an ordinary outcome for us.
Why people come
The situations we see most often
If one of these is yours, it is worth establishing the stage and the options.
- The regimen no longer holds the day
The effect runs out before the next dose — you feel it by the clock. And at peak dose, the extra movements.
- There is doubt about the diagnosis
Symptoms not quite typical, levodopa helping poorly, nobody has explained why. Worth another neurologist's eyes.
- Your feet stick to the floor
In a doorway or on a turn you suddenly cannot step. Freezing is the main cause of falls.
- Stimulation is being discussed
DBS has been offered, or you are considering it: do you meet the criteria, and what does it not give?
- You have read about stem cells
You want it without the advertising: what is registered, what is in trials, what is simply sold.
Standard care first
What is normally done before anything else
We do not propose replacing proven treatment. On the contrary: without it, any next step loses its meaning.
Start with standard therapy — its possibilities here are usually underestimated. What should already have been done at home:
- Levodopa — the most effective drug in this condition; holding it back "in reserve" is not supported by guidance. Taken 30–60 minutes before food: protein blocks absorption, and "off" periods after lunch often come from that, not progression. Nausea on an empty stomach early on: take it with a small non-protein snack, agreed with your doctor.
- Dopamine agonists, including the patch. In some people they cause impulse control disorders and sudden onset of sleep: the doctor must warn you in advance and discuss driving.
- MAO-B and COMT inhibitors extend each dose and smooth fluctuations. MAO-B inhibitors combine dangerously with tramadol and some antidepressants: agree any new prescription with the neurologist.
- Devices and surgery in advanced disease — "on demand" treatments, pumps, intestinal gel, deep brain stimulation (DBS). In most countries it is done in specialist centres, often within the public system.
- Regular exercise and physiotherapy — the part of treatment with the strongest data on mobility and falls. Speech, swallowing and cueing for freezing belong here too.
If all that is done and the day still falls apart — send your documents: Dr Yang will say whether anything else is worth considering, or that there is nothing to change.
Where a programme begins
No programme starts without a work-up
Diagnostics come first: they decide whether the method is indicated in your case and to what extent. From here there are two possible next steps.
The regenerative approach
What the cluster additionally considers
On medical grounds — as an addition to standard care, never instead of it.
- What exists for this diagnosis, and what does not
The world's only cell product for this diagnosis is conditionally approved in Japan alone and delivered by neurosurgery. In China it does not exist. Chinese development has reached a registrational phase II trial, but a trial is a trial: not on Hainan, selection by protocol, money will not get you in. The zone has no separate project for this diagnosis approved for paid use — checked in September 2026. We will not offer a substitute under another name. What exists is different: diagnosis and regimen reviewed, assessment for stimulation, rehabilitation. Compare that not with the rest of China but with what you can get at home.
- Diagnosis and regimen first, method second
The biggest gain usually comes not from new technology but from precise work with the old: timing, dose fractionation, the link with food, stopping what is unnecessary. The diary shows where the regimen breaks. Non-motor complaints are examined then too: sleep, blood pressure on standing, constipation, mood — often more disabling than stiffness.
- How results are measured, and what stimulation does not do
Change is measured, not felt: "on" hours from the diary, the motor scale before and after, freezing episodes and falls, a levodopa challenge before any talk of surgery. On stimulation the doctor must state the other side too: it improves above all what levodopa improves, while speech, balance and freezing sometimes get worse, and the operation carries its own risks. We do not arrange the implantation: the doctor assesses suitability and helps you decide where.
Methods
Which directions may be considered
What suits your case is determined by a physician after diagnostics.
Second opinion on your documents
Records reviewed, diagnosis and regimen re-examined. In Parkinson's this is the most sensible beginning, and you need not fly for it.
Check-up in the cluster
Neurological examination, motor and cognitive assessment, imaging and laboratory work — in a single visit.
Rehabilitation
Daily work on gait, balance and speech. The aim is technique you will carry on with at home.
Traditional Chinese medicine
A supportive course with Master Zhi Ning for non-motor complaints: sleep, anxiety, mood. On top of the medicines, not instead: any effect on the disease itself is unproven.
Plainly about the limits
When the regenerative route is not for you
This matters more than any marketing: knowing in advance when the method is not considered.
Check yourself against this list before booking tickets:
- You expect cells to replace levodopa — that cannot be bought on a trip: the world's only product is conditionally approved in Japan alone and delivered by surgery. In China it does not exist, and we do not have it.
- You are offered "stem cells for Parkinson's" by drip or an injection into the back — no proven effect, and real risk: severe complications are described after uncontrolled injections. We do not arrange such procedures.
- This is atypical parkinsonism — in multiple system atrophy, supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration the approach differs and stimulation is not indicated. Clarify the diagnosis first; do not book tickets.
- You are going abroad for the DBS operation itself — settle three questions first: who programmes the stimulator at home, whether that model is available where you live, and who replaces the generator in a few years. Without answers, do not go.
- The condition is unstable, or there is significant dementia — frequent falls, severe orthostatic hypotension, hallucinations, serious comorbidity. A long flight here is an unjustified risk: stabilise at home first.
If the cluster doctor says there is no reason to come and the regimen can be adjusted at home, we pass that on as it is. We do not sell a method — we organise access to a doctor's decision.
How it works
From your records to coming home
- 11. You send the documents
Phone photographs on WhatsApp: report, prescriptions, scans, three-day diary.
- 22. Preliminary neurological assessment
The cluster doctor says what makes sense: reworking the regimen, stimulation, rehabilitation, or none of it. Diagnoses are not made online.
- 33. Travel and the dosing schedule
Hainan has its own visa-free entry of up to 30 days for nationals of a long list of countries, with treatment a permitted purpose; you must fly to the island directly. International flights land at Sanya and Haikou; from Sanya it is 180 km to the cluster in Qionghai — 2.5 hours by car or an hour by high-speed train, and a coordinator meets you. Dosing times shift in advance, an hour a day: missing doses is dangerous. Medicines travel in hand luggage with a margin and a copy of the prescriptions; if tablets cannot be taken, a patch goes into the plan beforehand.
- 44. Diagnostics and the doctor's decision
Four days in the cluster: examination, motor and cognitive assessment, levodopa challenge and imaging where needed. Then the doctor says what to do and in what order.
- 55. If things get worse on the spot
You are beside the hospital throughout: if you deteriorate you go there, to doctors who already have your documents. Two situations do not wait until morning. After missed doses: rigidity rising sharply, temperature climbing, thinking muddled — go in at once. An anti-sickness injection offered: show the medication list, because metoclopramide and typical antipsychotics are not used in this diagnosis; what suits you goes into the plan in advance. The coordinator is in contact throughout and interprets; a companion stays with you.
- 66. Going home
You leave with a written plan: what is changing, what to monitor, when to adjust doses; after rehabilitation, with the technique too. Ask separately for an alternative from what is available where you live, with dose equivalents. Complications are managed by doctors at home: neither we nor the clinic helps at a distance.
Why here
What the Boao Lecheng cluster offers
- Dr Yang reads your records
A partner physician of the cluster who trained in medicine in Russia. He reads Russian documents in the original: nothing is lost to double translation. He is the person you write to.
- You find out before you buy a ticket
The levodopa formulation, pump or stimulator model you need may not be in the zone. Items are checked by name at the doctor's request — answer before you book.
- We are not a clinic and we do not treat
Treatment is delivered by the cluster's hospitals — state, private and international: the licences and the responsibility are theirs. You pay them directly for medicine, with no mark-up. MedBridge is an official representative of the cluster for Russian-speaking patients.
Common questions
The essentials
Read next
Go deeper
- Article: how Parkinson's disease is treated in China
- Dr Yang: training and specialisation
- MedBridge: who we are and how we work
- Programme and check-up prices
- How to verify MedBridge: payment, clinics, documents
- NK cells, stem cells, peptides: how the methods differ
- Boao Lecheng: what this zone is
- Sanya or Boao Lecheng: where to go for what
- Consent to the processing of personal data
Send your scans — and get a straight answer
A specialist physician in the cluster will look at your stage and say whether the regenerative route is worth considering. The review is free; we do not diagnose online.