SHANGHAI: To meet the need for high-end healthcare services among foreign
communities and wealthy people in the Yangtze River Delta areas, the
construction of a joint-ventured Sino-German Friendship Hospital will begin
later this year in Shanghai International Medical Zone.
Tongji University (TJ) in Shanghai yesterday reached an agreement with two
German investors: Siemens Project Venture GmbH (SPV) under Siemens AG and
Asklepios Kliniken, a major private hospital operator in Europe. The three sides
signed a memorandum of understanding for jointly funding and building the
hospital during President Hu Jintao's state visit to Germany last November.
"The rapid economic development in China has brought up much need for
high-end medical service, which is especially reflected by the World Expo 2010,"
Vice-Mayor Yang Xiaodu said during the signing ceremony.
The Sino-German Friendship Hospital will see a total investment of 1.5
billion yuan (US$190 million). Located in Shanghai International Medical Zone in
Nanhui District of the city, the hospital will have an overall construction area
of 84,000 square metres and 1,000 beds, providing all major fields of health
care services.
Last year's statistics show that more than 60,000 foreigners are working or
studying in Shanghai, with another 200,000 visiting the city each year. However,
many foreigners have to seek medical services in their home countries or fly to
Hong Kong or Singapore because the service, technology and management of
hospitals in the city still lag behind those in developed countries.
The Sino-German Friendship Hospital is considering this potential market in
Shanghai and its surrounding areas. The hospital will serve as a major medical
institution for international visitors for the World Expo, the city's largest
international event in 2010. By the end of 2008, the first phase of the hospital
will be completed with 500 beds, 21 outpatient centres and specialties, and four
medical technology centres.
As an affiliated hospital to TJ, the hospital said it will introduce a
leading hospital management concept and hire staff from China and abroad.
"Thirty per cent of the hospital's medical staff will be recruited from
overseas, and Chinese doctors and nurses will have an opportunity of studying in
Germany for one or two years," said Professor Dong Qi, Tongji's assistant
president.
Dong said that the hospital will be listed in the medical insurance system of
Germany or other European countries, thus solving the medical assurance problem
for expatriates in China. Besides health care service, the institute will be
built into a medical education and research centre for life science.
(China Daily 04/10/2006 page2)
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