Completely foreign owned hospitals approved for leading cities

Overseas investors in private hospitals will have to wait several years before their businesses become profitable, experts and industry players warn.

The facilities target the rising number of rich mainlanders but most remain small and struggle to lure top doctors away from prestigious public hospitals, they say.

State regulators have given the green light for wholly owned foreign-invested hospitals in seven mainland provinces and municipalities - Beijing, Tianjin , Shanghai, Jiangsu , Fujian , Guangdong and Hainan .

The move comes after the shareholder ceiling for foreigners in joint-venture hospitals was raised to 70 per cent in 2000. Three years ago, investors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau were allowed to set up wholly-owned hospitals in several provinces and municipalities.

Separate government figures are not available for foreign wholly or partly-invested hospitals as the state health authority counts them in the same category. However, experts believe that there are about 150 hospitals with foreign shareholders in the country, including 40 each in Beijing and Shanghai.

Fewer than 20 per cent have 200 beds or more. Most were struggling and only a few posted a profit, said Hanson Li, co-founder and managing director of the Beijing-based Huatone China Strategic Investment Solutions.