Founded in 1869, the Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine (SAHZU) was considered the cradle of western medicine in Zhejiang province. It educated a large number of medical talents, and several health care institutions can trace their roots to SAHZU. Those doctors and institutions have become the bedrock of clinical medicine in Zhejiang. And the hospital itself has been a beacon of the medical science: in 1989, it was recognized by the Ministry of Health as one of the first tertiary care hospitals in China; in 2013, it became one of the first Joint Commission International–accredited academic medical centers in the world.

As of 2021, SAHZU has 8 campuses with almost four thousand beds and more than seven thousand staff, including three thousand physicians and three thousand nurses in 56 clinical departments, many of which are national clinical departments or disciplines approved by the National Health Commission. SAHZU has become the role model for Chinese hospitals in the field of transcatheter valve intervention, the micro-incision cataract surgery, colorectal cancer, and severe burns. With more than 7 million outpatient and emergency visits, 260,000 inpatient admissions, and almost 200,000 operations every year, SAHZU is one of the most efficient tertiary public hospitals in China.

SAHZU ranked top 8 in China in the 2021 National Tertiary Hospital Performance Evaluation by National Health Commission of China. According to the Fudan University Hospital Management Institute's Best Chinese Hospital Ranking 2020, SAHZU ranked top 10 in seven specialties (Emergency #3, Cardiology #4, Ophthalmology #5, Neurosurgery #5, Health Management #5, Burns #7, Ultrasound Medicine #8), with another 10 nationally nominated specialties (Radiology, Respiratory Medicine, Rheumatology, Orthopedics, Anesthesiology, Dermatology, General Surgery, Neurology, Oncology, Allergy).