China to allow wholly foreign-owned hospitals in several cities across country

Beijing: China has announced plans to allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in certain cities and regions across the country, including in the capital Beijing, a move that could evince interest in major Indian corporate hospitals.

According to an official document unveiled on Sunday, the foreign-owned hospitals will be permitted to open in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and throughout the island of Hainan.

A circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration on further expanding pilot programmes for opening up in the medical field noted that the conditions, requirements and procedures for establishing these hospitals will be specified later.

Foreign-invested enterprises are also allowed to carry out the development and application of technologies relating to human stem cells and gene diagnosis and treatment in the pilot free-trade zones in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, as well as in the Hainan Free Trade Port, for the registration, launch and production of relevant products, the document said.

It added that relevant enterprises must comply with China’s laws and regulations, and observe the requirements regarding human genetic resource management, drug clinical trials, drug registration and production and ethical review. They are also asked to follow the relevant management procedures.

This is not the first time that China has made such an announcement. A similar announcement in 2014 evinced interests in some of the Indian corporate hospitals.

Many Indian health professionals representing the country’s top corporate hospitals visited China.