The doctor will see you now ... online
Mainland’s inefficient medical system is spurring the growth of digital health care services that offer everything from online video consultations with doctors to home delivery of prescription medicines
Chen Jing is one of the millions of ordinary Chinese whose bad experiences of the country’s inefficient medical services are spurring a digital makeover of the health care industry that is creating multi-billion dollar opportunities for technology companies.
When the young consultancy company employee last went to Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital with a bout of gastroenteritis, she simply gave up trying to see a doctor.
“The process was complex and the hospital was packed with people. I felt even more uncomfortable after waiting for more than an hour. Instead I bought some medicine from a pharmacy and went home,” she said.
Overstretched and underfunded hospitals, long waiting times, bureaucracy, reports of patients being forced to pay large amounts of money to get appointments with renowned specialists, often through dubious middlemen who take a cut, as well as the government’s desire to relieve the pressures on public health, are just some of the reasons behind the surging interest in online health care.
“The demand for quality health care services is huge because the state health care system is not efficient, quality is not very good. These are the reasons driving online digital health care business models,” said Carl Berrisford, equity analyst of UBS CIO Wealth Management.
Measuring the spending on digital health care in the mainland, Boston Consulting Group forecast the market would expand from US$3 billion in 2014 to US$26 billion in 2017. Venture funding reached about US$700 million in 2014, pouring into businesses from e-commerce to online physician-and-patient communication services and disease management applications, it said in a study last September.