The First People's Hospital of Yuhang district in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province now offers facial recognition services to patients for registration and medical bill payments. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The First People's Hospital of Yuhang district in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is now offering facial recognition services to patients for registration and medical bill payments, local media reported.

The new system, co-developed by Ali Health, the medical and health arm of Alibaba, and the health department of Yuhang, allows patients with health insurance and a mobile payment account to create a personal profile, register, access medical reports and pay medical bills on self-service terminals.

Unlike hospitals in other cities, the First People's Hospital of Yuhang district is the first in China that enables patients to go through the whole medical process on self-service terminals, making it easier for them to see a doctor.

First-time users must scan their faces and enter their ID number to create a profile, which will be kept on file on the terminals. After the profile is created, the machine will be able to recognize users.

Once users choose to apply for registration or pay bills, the face recognition process begins. After the user is recognized, phone numbers bound with Alipay are needed to complete the process.

The whole process takes no longer than 30 seconds, according to a member of staff in the hospital.

Patients will no longer need to search through the mess of their national ID cards, bank cards, or even phones, said Li Xiaojun, deputy director of the hospital, adding that the system helps to make things more convenient for  patients and ease the traffic flow in the hospital.

Combining 3-D cameras and Alipay's biological recognition technology, the facial recognition services ensure the accuracy and safety of identity verification, according to Ke Yan, vice president of Ali Health.

A user uses facial recognition technology at a self-service terminal in the First People's Hospital of Yuhang district in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]