In the 1950s, health care in the Xisha Islands was very backward, with only one medical clinic providing simple treatment to local villagers and passing fishermen. At that time, Hainan is an administrative region of Guangdong Province, Xisha under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province. 1959 March, Hainan Southwest Mesopotamia Islands Work Committee, Southwest Mesopotamia Islands Office was established in the largest island in the Xisha Islands, Yongxing Island, established the Southwest Mesopotamia Islands People's Hospital, built a 2-story 200 square meters of small buildings to accommodate the scale of the 20 beds for patients, which is the predecessor of the Xisha People's Hospital. At the beginning of the establishment of the Work Committee of the Southwest Mesopotamia Islands and the Office of the Southwest Mesopotamia Islands, they had asked their staff to settle in the Xisha Islands, but due to the remoteness of the location, and the climatic and geographic conditions of high temperatures, high humidity, and high alkalinity, it was very difficult to settle in the geography and living conditions of the islands for a long period of time. From July 1969, approved by the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, the provincial government and the Hainan Military Region, the island staff to implement the rotation system, Xisha People's Hospital medical staff are also rotated by the Hainan cities and counties, each batch of 4 to 5 people, half a year.
Xisha transportation is closed, only one ship per month from Wenchang City, Hainan Province, to and from the Xisha Islands, encountered typhoons and other bad weather, but also indefinite delay. Due to the backwardness of medical and health conditions, when it comes to complex and major diseases, Xisha People's Hospital basically has no way to treat them. 1998, Xisha People's Hospital for the first time had a fixed establishment of eight people, including four fixed staff, the other four medical staff (doctors, nurses, two each) by the Department of Health of Hainan Province from the cities and counties and the province's three A hospitals, rotating every six months.
Because of its special geographic location, Xisha People's Hospital's medical conditions are very backward. "Xisha People's Hospital is strictly a clinic at present, with only one hyperbaric oxygen equipment, one electrograph machine, one urine detector and simple operating table, and the hospital's 2-story building is still a dangerous building." President Hu Yaxiong introduced, such medical conditions, even worse than a health center in Hainan.