Government encourages growth of private hospitals

Private players will be given priority when future medical facilities are planned, an official from China's top economic planner said on Wednesday.

Cai Changhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission's social development division, said the size of public hospitals will be strictly limited, so as to make rooms for private contenders, while limits will be removed for their private counterparts.

"Local governments will no longer limit the distribution and the number of private hospitals within their jurisdictions," he said. "Public money will be mainly used to enhance basic health services in rural and remote areas."

Cai was speaking at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office to introduce a recent guideline aimed at promoting private investment in the healthcare sector. The guideline was jointly issued by 10 central government agencies, including the NDRC and the National Health Commission.

China has been working to promote the presence of private healthcare providers in a sector once dominated by public hospitals. Many have blamed that dominance for inadequate supply, poor service and expensive medical bills.

Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said the number of private hospitals has grown rapidly in recent years, and they are pivotal in addressing inadequate supply.

The health commission said there were 459,000 private medical and health institutions in China at the end of last year, accounting for about 46 percent of the country's total. About 21,000 hospitals were run by the private sector, or 63.5 percent of all hospitals.

Wang pledged there will be no discrimination against private operators in market access or evaluation. They will also be entitled to the same tax breaks as high-tech enterprises.