China has
set the target of increasing the gross value of its health service sector to
over 8 trillion yuan (US$1.31 trillion) by 2020, according to a guideline
issued by the State Council on Monday.
More
measures will be taken to boost this sector, which will serve to improve
people's wellbeing as well as shoring up growth, said the guideline.
The health
service industry covers medical services, health management, health insurance,
and other supporting sectors related to pharmaceuticals, medical equipment,
healthcare facilities and healthcare food.
New
measures to increase private capital in the sector will include relaxing market
admittance requirements for investment from non-governmental sources, and
giving equal treatment to not-for-profit private medical institutions and
public medical establishments.
The
government will also simplify approval procedures for rehabilitation centers,
hospitals for children and elderly patients, and nursing homes, according to
the guideline.
China will
encourage cooperation between medical establishments and nursing homes, so as
to provide treatment of chronic diseases to elderly patients in local
communities.
The
guideline added that the government encourages insurance companies to diversify
commercial health insurance products and vows to make the commercial insurance
scheme cover more people.
Liu Guo'en,
an expert tracking China's health reform and a professor at the Guanghua School
of Management of Peking University, said the new policy aims to improve
people's health from a life-cycle perspective.
It pays
more attention to health management, highlighting early detection and early
treatment of diseases through a health checkup, said Liu.
Han
Xiaohong, president of Ciming Health Checkup Management Group, one of the
largest healthcare checkup providers in China, hailed the supportive measures
for private capital.
Four
investment projects of Ciming have previously been vetoed by government
authorities as they were located "too close to public hospitals,"
according to Han.
"Health
checkup centers like us are not allowed to purchase nuclear magnetic resonance
machines, limiting our services to customers," said Han.
With the
new guideline in place, Han expected more detailed policies to be rolled out
soon, so his company will be better positioned to compete with public
hospitals.
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