Private medical facilities are sprouting up in Shanghai, meeting more of the city's needs, fostering competition and improving services, city officials said yesterday.
The city has approved 300 private medical facilities in the past three years, the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission said.
High-end joint ventures encouraged by favorable local policies are making large investments and bringing in advanced management techniques, the commission said.
"Private medical facilities cover 6 percent of local health services," said Xu Jianguang, commission director. "They are an important supplement to the city's health services, which are covered mainly by state-owned hospitals."
By the end of last year, the city had 1,605 private medical facilities, 76 of them nonprofit and 1,529 for profit. Most are clinics, with a total of 8,400 beds, which is 7.7 percent of the city's total beds.
Investment has been boosted by two international medical parks, one in the Pudong New Area and the other in the Hongqiao area.
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