Double benefits

陈小将

Wholly foreign-owned enterprises setting up medical institutions in China will not only contribute to further opening-up, but also test whether this model is suitable for the entire country, experts said. Many top international hospitals are different from their counterparts in China in terms of patient care, technology, management models, and service awareness, they added.

"For example, the service model is one area where gaps are seen between Chinese and foreign medical treatment," said Liu Guoen, dean of the Institute for Global Health and Development at Peking University.

"China's public hospitals, especially the tertiary ones in big cities, are often overcrowded and are not in a position to provide patient-centric medical services.

"When different types of hospitals compete on the same stage, it's expected to have a positive impact on the entire medical service ecology in the country," he said.

Although some public hospitals have provided high-end medical services through their international departments, they are still limited due to the backgrounds and management methods of these hospitals, industry observers said.

However, wholly foreign-owned hospitals are not subject to the same restrictions on public medical insurance, and can set prices independently. This allows them to avoid institutional constraints and introduce industry game-changers, they said.

Shanghai Towako Hospital, China's first wholly foreign-owned hospital, opened in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2016. An unnamed senior hospital executive told local media in a recent interview that they were delighted to see the relaxation of the policy again, which is good news for all medical institutions with foreign funding.

The Japan-funded hospital specializes in assisted reproductive services and was profitable within three years of opening. It has had 300,000 patient visits, and provided medical assistance to nearly 2,300 babies delivered there.

In 2021, there were more than 300 joint-venture medical institutions in the country with foreign investment, National Health Commission data showed. Around 38 percent were hospitals, and the rest were clinics or outpatient departments operating under an asset-light business model.