广播听力: Private Hospitals Join in Chinese Healthcare Reforms

China has taken another step towards the goal of a more "public" healthcare system.
The State Council has decided to pilot a series of measures, including freeing public hospitals from over-relying on prescription profits and emphasizing primary care, all in an effort to boost stalled medicare reforms.

And this time the usually marginalized private hospitals have been included in the scheme.

Wu Jia brings us more.

Private hospitals always struggle in China.

Han Xiaohong, a consultant from the Beijing municipal advisory body, says private hospitals are not financially strong enough to buy top equipment, so they can only compete with their counterparts in public hospitals in basic health services, such as physical examinations and midwifery.

Nevertheless, they seem to perform rather well in those limited fields.

Han Xiaohong is also the CEO of Ci Ming Corporation, which specializes in offering physical examinations. She says her company runs 45 hospitals in 11 cities and they admit some 1.2 million patients every year.

The healthcare reform guidelines released by the State Council earlier this week encourage the private sectors to set up more hospitals.

Han Xiaohong says that she believes this move is on the right track.</