China Tells

China has a huge public medical system across the country, with a better coverage in urban areas than rural ones. As a matter of fact, China’s expense on healthcare per capita is among the lower band based on international comparison (See Graph from Chinatells). On the other hand, the growing middle class has a need to seek better quality of health care (See Article from China Daily). Such a need with lower starting base motivates a high growth of foreign funded private hospitals in first tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. There is no doubt that these hospitals charge a premium. For example, it costs about 5,000 yuan to deliver a baby in a public hospital. However it costs more than 50,000 yuan in a private one (10 times higher). Despite such a premium, there are still upper middle class people opting for such a choice as there are less waiting time in the Q and the mother gets better personalized service from the same doctor. As Chinese’s income continues to grow, there is a good potential for private hospitals to develop.

中国的私人医院还处于起步阶段。由于国民收入的增加，目前去私人医院就诊的病人有增长的趋势。这些私人医院大都是外资开办，收费高昂，但是服务周到，有点五星级的感觉。比如生个孩子，普通公立医院大概需要花费5000块人民币，私人医院至少5万以上。在我看来这些医院的出现体现了贫富差距，同时也给了不同人不同的选择，应该是件好事。