New hospitals try to fill medical gaps

The central area of the intensive care unit at Peking University International Hospital Photo: Cui Meng/GT

On a normal Tuesday morning, when most of Chinese general hospitals were packed, with the usual long and shoving lines in front of registration windows and doctor's consulting rooms, patients and their families in a hospital located in the Beijing's Changping district comfortably sat in a sofa and waited their turn while watching their kids play in new facilities.

They could also relax in the coffee shop opened in the outpatient building or have meals in the hospital's restaurants. Several free shuttle buses are available for patients that need to have tests in different sections. None of those services are available in Beijing's public hospitals.

The hospital, Peking University International Hospital, which aims at providing quality medical service at regular prices to Chinese patients as well as foreign patients, is currently the country's biggest non-profit general hospital, with a total capital investment of 4.5 billion yuan ($730 million). The hospital started to admit patients on December 5.

As a big hospital with innovative medical services and social capital investment, its opening attracted wide attention but also triggered concerns about whether it would be sustainable and discussions on the development of private hospitals.

Profit chain

"We have been preparing to build such a hospital for 12 years," Wang Shan, president of the jointly-funded hospital who also holds the same post at Peking University People's Hospital, told the Global Times.

Wang said building a hospital of the same standard as Western countries that can meet the needs of ordinary Chinese has always been his dream.

Chinese people have been complaining about the expensive medical treatment combined with poor services in public hospitals, which provide 90 percent of medical services, leading to overcrowding.

Beijing particularly suffers from this problem, since the nation's best medical resources and most highly trained doctors are usually put in the metropolises. As a result, tens of thousands of patients from other parts of the country travel to Beijing every day, further swelling crowded clinics.

The new hospital covers an area of 440,000 square meters and has 1,800 beds and 46 operation rooms, including 159 beds in intensive care units, according to Wang.

According to Wang, the hospital uses the world's most advanced information system for public service and hospital operation. It has set up a landing pad for helicopters on its rooftop, and the pediatrics department has been designed to make children feel comfortable.

One major feature that puts the hospital under the spotlight is its non-profit nature. "The money we earned will be put into the further development of the hospital, including scientific research," Wang said.

The investors of the hospital, including Peking University and Founder Group, have developed a medical industry chain involving hospitals, medicine, and medical equipment, according to Wang.

"We have also reformed the staff recruitment system. We don't mind whether the doctors are working part time or full time, whether they are Chinese or foreigners, whether they are retired and whether they have experience of working in other Peking University's hospitals or not as long as they can protect patients' life and provide good treatment to them," Wang said. The hospital has presently recruited more than 1,400 staff.

Insurance uncovered

The outpatient building only had a dozen patients when the Global Times reporters visited the hospital on Tuesday.

The parents of a female patient with a waist injury waited outside a consulting room at the hospital's traditional Chinese medicine section.

"We are glad to find a big general hospital with good service near our home," the father surnamed Feng told the Global Times.

Zhang Zikuan, former medical administration chief with the Ministry of Health, believed the social capital invested in hospitals in Peking University International Hospital can play a supplementary role in China's healthcare sector.

The government encouraged the development of non-public hospitals to save government input, and such hospitals flourished in China after 1990s, Zhang said.

The hospital could use medical resources from seven other Peking University's hospitals, so attracting patients probably would not be a problem, he said.

"However, with such large investment and high-end facilities but ordinary medical prices, how the hospital can operate in the long term is a big question," Zhang said.

He also suggested that the hospital develop a nationally outstanding department. For example, Peking University Third Hospital is famous for its motor neuron department.

Wang believed that lots of government policies can be used to support the hospital, but some of them have not been put into practice.

"The hospital's services were limited by some conditions, as it has not been covered by basic medical insurance so far," Wang said and indicated that patients had to pay for the medical treatment by themselves.

More policies should be introduced to support such hospitals. Certain benefits such as a cheap price for electricity and water, and also tax exemption should be given to the hospitals, according to Zhang.

Private struggles

Peking University International Hospital need not worry about attracting patients, while it is a big problem for many other non-public hospitals.

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, non-public healthcare institutions account for 47 percent of the country's total as of 2014. However, the number of beds they provide makes up only 11 percent of the total. The ratio is expected to reach 20 percent by 2015, Xinhua said.

Due to lack of government supervision, some private hospitals also had problems with investors, an expert with a private hospital association surnamed Zhang, told the Global Times.

Private hospital established by farmer-turned investors from Putian, Fujian Province have spread nationwide, yet the insufficient medical resources and poor service not only harmed the reputation of the non-public hospitals but have also led to one patient's death at the hospital in August, media reported.

"That was because the government did not limit the investors for private hospital," Zhang said.

The number of private hospitals in China reached to 11,514 as of 2014, but many of them are still small in scale and fail to offer good service. Among those hospitals, 86 percent of them had less than 100 beds, according to the private hospitals' blue book in 2014, the gmw.cn said.

"Another important problem is how to attract top level doctors," Zhang added.

China has lifted restrictions on doctors practicing in multiple medical institutions since 2009, but the flow of medical staff still faces obstacles.

Many doctors' personal archives were kept in the previous public hospitals they worked for, which offered them better social welfare and social status. So many of them were reluctant to work in private hospitals, Zhang said. "The government must deepen medical reforms to speed up the investment in private hospitals," he noted.