Southern Medical University Zhujiang Hospital is the Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University (formerly the First Military Medical University), established in 1947. In August 2004, it was transferred to Guangdong Province along with the First Military Medical University. It is a large comprehensive hospital integrating medical care, teaching, scientific research, and preventive healthcare.

The hospital is one of the first batch of "Grade A tertiary" hospitals in China, a high-level hospital in Guangdong Province, a key construction unit of the first batch of high-level clinical medical colleges, a demonstration hospital for public hospital reform and high-quality development in Guangdong Province, a "flagship" hospital for integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine in Guangdong Province, and a leading unit of clinical research quality control centers in Guangdong Province and Guangzhou City, and a member of the first batch of research hospital alliances in Guangzhou.

The hospital has been rated A+ in the national performance assessment of tertiary public hospitals for six consecutive years. It has 89 professional departments and 35 teaching and research departments. It has 4 national key disciplines, 23 national and provincial clinical key specialties, and 1 national integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine "flagship" department. It manages 3 regional leading hospitals: Foshan Sanshui District People's Hospital, Huizhou Longmen County General Hospital, and Zhaoqing Guangning County People's Hospital.