The hospital doctor turned entrepreneur bringing the internet to China’s medical services
Li Tiantian left his PhD studies in neurology and his job as a doctor at a hospital to embark on what appeared at the time as a risky venture. His career prognosis now: excellent
As the mainland authorities invite private investors into the medical sector, a huge amount of capital has flooded in – some of it going to online services and mobile phone apps. At the end of last year, the mainland had more than 2,000 apps related to the industry in a market worth an estimated 3 billion yuan (HK$3.8 billion). And more is to come – by 2017 the market is expected to swell to 12.5 billion yuan, according to China Medical and Pharmaceutical Material Association.
Fifteen years ago Li Tiantian set up Dxy.cn, a website that provides academic information to doctors. Li gave up his pursuit of a PhD degree in neurology and a job as a doctor at a top hospital in Harbin in Heilongjiang province. The website has become the mainland’s largest medical portal and has received US$70 million investment from Tencent, China’s internet giant. Li has created four apps, and is opening a brick-and-mortar clinic soon to expand revenue sources.
Can you introduce your website?
We target doctors and we provide medical knowledge, news and information about conferences. We have been engaged in this niche market for more than a decade. I am proud to say that 80 per cent of the country’s 2.6 million licensed doctors are our members. Our revenue comes from advertisements from pharmaceutical companies to promote their drugs and from domestic hospitals seeking to hire medical staff. We have caught up with the new technology with four apps launched, three of which are designed as professional assistance for doctors. The final one provides health advice to ordinary people. Driven by this goal [of serving patients], we decided to open a clinic. We think it’s necessary for us to operate a hospital by ourselves because we are then involved in every aspect of the “serving patients” circle. Its purpose is to figure out a non-traditional hospital management system and service standards. We will release the data and information on our website, hoping to help more doctors to manage their patients and improve their services.