Private hospitals exceed public ones in Shenzhen   

深圳民营医院数量超公立

深圳现有民营医院70家，数量已超公立医院，成为中国国内民营医疗开放程度最高、服务份额最大的城市。

Shenzhen (CNS) -- Shenzhen is now home to 70 private hospitals, a number higher than the city's public hospitals, according to a source last week at the 2012 Shenzhen Private Hospital Development Seminar.

The private hospitals have 7,000 beds and see 5.65 million visitors for outpatient services annually, accounting for 20 percent of the city's total outpatients, said Liao Qingwei, a local health officer who attended the seminar.

We have seen 16 more private hospitals start up in the past three years, and expect another 28 by 2015, said Liao.

Private hospitals cannot compete fairly with public ones, said an anonymous person in charge of a hospital. Public hospitals have government subsidies, while private ones must pay 25 percent of their income as tax and purchase fixed assets and equipment on their own, he explained.

We should give equal treatment to private hospitals, said Xu Sihu, another local health officer.