China’s central government wants to encourage private investment to meet the country’s increasing demand for health care. Private capital will enjoy preferential treatment and will be encouraged to participate in the restructuring of government hospitals.
The high cost and poor availability of health services have been among the loudest complaints of the public. Now there will be a healthcare reform.
In 2009, private medical institutions accounted for 36% of total medical institutions but their bed numbers accounted for only 5% of total beds.
In March this year Premier Wen Jiabao promised to “support the use of non-government capital to run medical and healthcare institutions.” This was seen as a signal for creating a more open medical market.
ARC China reports that according to the new policies, China will deepen the opening-up of medical institutions and turn the overseas-invested medical sector from the “limited” category into a category that allows foreign investment.
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