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9 cities and municipalities are allowed to set up wholly foreign-owned hospitals!

mayo clinic has taken the lead!

all i can say is that overseas investors are always more sensitive than us, and they get news faster than us...

just two and a half months ago, on june 22, the u.s.mayo clinic mayo clinic officially opened an international representative office in shanghai, becoming the first international representative office established in mainland china. it is opened to provide assistance to patients and their families, referring physicians, health insurance, etc.

at the opening ceremony, mayo clinic international asia pacific executive medical directorStacey Rizza"we are pleased to add the shanghai office to our services for international patients," said dr. carolyn lee, m.d., m.p.h., m.s .... "these services are committed to providing a first-class patient experience and are part of a comprehensive medical resource for patients. the new office will also help referring physicians and insurance companies connect with mayo clinic international."

at that time, we didn't realize anything, but we were confused. why did the mayo clinic open in china at this time? of course, we were also very happy, because some patients with specific cancers or rare cancers who had been sentenced to "death" by domestic hospitals finally had a channel and place to survive. even if this survival required selling everything, it was better than having no hope at all.

it was not until recently that we suddenly realized it.

on september 7, the ministry of commerce, the national health commission, and the national medical products administration jointly issued"notice on launching a pilot program to expand opening-up in the medical field", it is proposed to allowbeijing, tianjin, shanghai, nanjing, suzhou, fuzhou, guangzhou, shenzhen and the entire island of hainanset upwholly foreign owned hospital(except for traditional chinese medicine, and excluding mergers and acquisitions of public hospitals). the specific conditions, requirements and procedures for establishing wholly foreign-owned hospitals will be notified separately.

the notice also proposes that from the date of publication, the china (beijing) pilot free trade zone, china (shanghai) pilot free trade zone, china (guangdong) pilot free trade zone and hainan free trade port will beforeign-invested enterprises are allowed to engage in the development and application of human stem cell, gene diagnosis and treatment technologies for product registration, marketing and production. all products that have been registered, marketed and approved for production can be used nationwide.

people have different views on this policy

can the general population benefit from foreign-funded hospitals?

as soon as the breaking news came out that foreign capital would be allowed to open hospitals in china, it immediately caused an uproar in public opinion, and different groups of people expressed different opinions from different perspectives.

the opposing crowdi think: "foreign-funded hospitals are equivalent to high-end private hospitals. they are here to make money, not philanthropists. i admit that the medical level of these hospitals is definitely higher, but it has nothing to do with us ordinary people, because we don't have the money to go to foreign-funded hospitals for treatment. it doesn't matter whether they come or not. the only hospitals i can go to and rely on are public hospitals."

"the arrival of foreign-funded hospitals will not only bring no benefit to us ordinary people, but will be harmful, because they will definitely pay high prices to poach doctors from top tertiary hospitals, so that the high-quality medical resources of public hospitals will flow to foreign-funded hospitals. then what will we poor people do? the entry of foreign-funded hospitals will only benefit the rich and powerful. they can enjoy top medical care without flying to the united states, but it has nothing to do with us! therefore, we firmly oppose it!"

the voices of opposition are deafening, and if you think about it from this perspective, they are not without reason, but more people hold a supportive attitude.

supporting peoplethey believe that: "domestic medical care is extremely involuted, hospital management is worrying, medical reform is repeatedly hesitant, medical equipment has no innovation, and the public's demand for high-end medical care is increasing day by day. do you want to keep this lifeless situation forever?"

"the entry of foreign-funded hospitals will bring new medical concepts, advanced medical equipment, international medical service processes, and possibly more flexible operation and management mechanisms. this is not only a direct challenge to domestic medical institutions, but also a reshaping of the entire pharmaceutical industry ecosystem. from drug research and development, production to sales, from medical services to patient experience,every link may undergo profound changes due to the participation of foreign-funded hospitals.to be honest, at a time when foreign capital is withdrawing frequently, we are extremely eager to have fresh blood coming in, and we hope that foreign-funded hospitals can play a catfish effect and drive domestic medical care out of involution and rigidity. "

"for patients, the entry of foreign-funded hospitals is also beneficial. first of all, foreign-funded hospitals cannot use medical insurance because the government will not allow it.medical insurance is still used in public hospitals, but rich people go to foreign-funded enterprises and cannot use medical insurance, which effectively reduces the expenditure burden of medical insurance.in addition, if world-class medical institutions such as mayo and cleveland opened in china,if you really need it, i believe you will go there even if you have to sell your house. you don't have to go abroad, which is a good thing for anyone.”

doctors have new places and new options

with the entry of foreign-funded hospitals, doctors’ income will definitely increase

in fact, allowing the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals has certain benefits for any group of people.

in 2021, a netizen in qingdao, shandong posted a message saying that she had breast cancer and had undergone surgery and chemotherapy. however, after a pet-ct scan seven months later, the doctor told her that the cancer cells had metastasized to the lymph nodes, which almost meant that her life had begun to count down.

she said: "the doctor at ruijin hospital was evasive. i knew in my heart that i had a terminal illness, but i still had two children and i didn't want to die. i heard that there was a hospital in the united states that could greatly improve the five-year survival rate of cancer and had developed a targeted drug for breast cancer. i planned to go to the united states for treatment. this was my last hope of survival."

"but the result is painful.it took me 13 days to get a passport, but i still need a visa to go abroadit doesn’t mean that you can go to the united states just because you want to. the united states doesn’t allow me to go. only rich people can go to the united states. i never knew this before. i found an agent and a scalper and told them that i wanted to go to the united states for medical treatment. the agent sympathized with me, but there was nothing he could do.the agent said that even international students can’t apply for a us visa, so you can forget about going to the us.i'm really giving up.i once thought that if those foreign hospitals could open branches in qingdao, and the medicines and equipment used were the same as those in the american headquarters hospitals, i might be able to see my children grow up...”

this text is really heartbreaking. we don’t know whether this netizen finally went to the united states for medical treatment. we can only silently wish her well, because for ordinary people like us, going to the united states for medical treatment is really an unattainable dream.

although it is out of reach, it is also the last hope. according to the latest statistics from the american society of oncology, the five-year survival rate of cancer patients in the united states from 2003 to 2009 reached more than 68%, a significant increase from 48.9% from 1975 to 1977. in contrast, the "china cancer statistics yearbook" released by the my country cancer prevention and control office in january 2014 shows that the five-year survival rate of cancer patients in china is only about 25%.

seeing such a high five-year cancer survival rate in the united states, many cancer patients have really ignited their hope of life. however, going abroad is not an easy thing. it is difficult to go to thailand, which has a visa-free policy, let alone the united states, which requires a visa.if european and american hospitals really open wholly-owned hospitals in china, it will be a huge convenience for patients who want to go to medical institutions such as mayo clinic and cleveland clinic for treatment.

in addition, allowing doctors to open wholly foreign-owned hospitals is also beneficial.

take the mayo clinic as an example. it pioneered the electronic medical record, which greatly reduced the workload of doctors. if electronic medical records can be promoted in all hospitals across the country under the influence and leadership of mayo, it will have a huge impact.

mayo clinic believes in returning to its original aspirations, so it insists on choosing to executephysician leadership system. almost all the leaders of each term are doctors, and this person is elected by everyone based on his or her professional ability. the affairs of the hospital are also decided by the doctors themselves. in addition to the top leader, each department of the hospital adopts a 1+1 model, which is managed by a doctor and a professional manager. the two people can look at problems from the perspective of doctors and operators respectively, cooperate with each other, and coordinate with each other to control the direction of the department. in the future, this management model may have an impact on domestic hospitals.

as for the issue of doctors’ income, if foreign capital is introduced, they will not be able to bear the constraints and internal competition within the system, and more top doctors will consider working in foreign-funded hospitals, because in western countries such as europe and the united states, doctors’ salaries are really high. take the united states as an example.the average annual income for primary care physicians in the country is expected to increase from $242,000 in 2020 to $260,000 in 2021 and then to $265,000 in 2022., it is visible to the naked eye that it is growing every year;the average annual salary of specialist doctors increased from us$368,000 in 2021 to us$382,000 in 2022.

after those foreign hospitals open branches in china, even if they cannot reach the local salary level, even if they can reach 30% or 50%, it is still unimaginably high.

therefore, after foreign-owned hospitals are allowed to open, not only do doctors in foreign-owned hospitals have high incomes, but domestic public hospitals are also forced to increase their incomes in order to retain top doctors, which creates a competitive situation.

in short, allowing wholly foreign-owned hospitals to open is a good thing.under the current circumstances, anything that is open to the outside world should be affirmed, even if the degree of openness is limited.but i am worried whether this policy can be truly implemented, because the government has already issued an almost identical document 10 years ago.

as early asaugust 27, 2014the ministry of commerce and the national health and family planning commission jointly issuednotice on launching a pilot program for establishing wholly foreign-owned hospitalsthe document states: from the date of issuance of this notice, foreign investors are allowed to establish new businesses or acquire new businesses in beijing, tianjin, shanghai, jiangsu, fujian, guangdong, hainan, and other provinces.establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitalsexcept for investors from hong kong, macao and taiwan, other foreign investors are not allowed to set up traditional chinese medicine hospitals in the above provinces (cities).

why is it necessary to re-issue a policy that was issued ten years ago? can it be implemented in the future if it is re-issued now? it is difficult for us to see clearly about this matter.

written by | alaska treasure

editor | alaska treasure