UK vies for China's healthcare market

The UK's former health secretary is getting ready to lead a delegation to China to try to determine the viability of Britain investing in the Chinese healthcare sector.

Speaking at the China Business Conference in London, Ken Clarke says there is a massive opportunity for UK healthcare business in China, given the rapid urbanization, growth of the middle class and the Chinese government's healthcare reforms.

"I shall be launching in China an organization called Healthcare UK. Healthcare UK is a new private sector led healthcare export unit. It's going to be people drawn from the private sector with healthcare experience, and help me and my colleagues in UKTI and the Department of Health to head on British efforts to help both public and private sector access in China to the significant opportunities that are presented there."

The British government estimates China's healthcare market could be worth around 600-billion US dollars over the next decade.

The Healthcare UK unit in China will be the second initiative of its kind after a similar one in Dubai in January. The China unit will initially focus on selling UK healthcare expertise and hardware.

But recent scandals in the UK health care system have led to questions about the viability of looking abroad.

Clarke says this shouldn't affect their push to tap into other markets.

"All healthcare systems have their problems. And because it's so important, it's among the most emotional subtle issues to raise. But the National Health Service as a system is one of the best in the world certainly in the clinical standards and other standards it delivers to the population. Perhaps it helps every now and again people discover that things got wrong in a hospital. It's an extremely complex professional scientific process if you are to maintain standards of care like we do to a population like that."

Stephen Perry is the chair of 48 Group Club, an NGO dedicated to promoting Sino-UK relations. He suggests Chinese and UK firms have opportunities to work in collaboration outside one-another's borders.

"I think our biggest opportunities are here. That's to work cooperatively with China in third markets, identifying opportunities, developing markets and leveraging this back into enhanced benefits in China as well. My own company has been working along these lines with China in Africa for several years now. In partnership, there is so much more we can do, both for business services and for a more stable and prosperous world."

The annual China Business Conference is organized by the China-British Business Council.