"Caring Is Hip" is a model for creating viable and sustainable medical practices to serve impoverished rural residents. Establishing a platform and network for delivering medical services provides people in need with the necessary means and resources to help themselves. The virtuous cycle will help reduce dependence on government and public resources and enhance the capabilities of rural medical professionals.

Non-profit satellite medical clinics will be established in 20 rural villages throughout the Chaozhou-Shantou region within three to five years. Shantou University Medical College (SUMC) will provide specialist training for rural healthcare practitioners, who will then return to their respective clinics to provide much-needed medical services for patients. The goal is to have the clinics recover only operating costs, making the fees for services far less expensive than medical services offered in large urban areas. The objective is to help financially strapped families afford quality medical care and services while enabling the program to develop and sustain itself.

Each clinic will provide a permanent staff of local healthcare professionals. To enhance the quality of medical care at these stations and to strengthen the prevention of rare diseases, SUMC will also assist in recruiting voluntary medical workers from Shantou, Hong Kong, and overseas to perform specialist treatments and surgery demonstrations.

The first clinic was established in the Sanrao district. The Shantou University/Chinese University of Hong Kong Joint Shantou International Eye Center (JSIEC) will heads this operation with the goal to eradicate all incidents of blindness caused by cataract in the Chaozhou/Shantou area within three to five years.

This program is a collaboration between the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the Chaozhou/Shantou municipal governments. It is supported by the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organizations, Young Executive Committee of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce, and International Teochew Youth Federation.