NewChina’s health care reform moving slowly amid obstacles
Lack of support from regulators and state-run firms, difficulties working with fragmented sector are holding back progress
Dxy is exactly what Beijing has said it is looking to support after it pinpointed remote health care, the internet and technology as drivers to solve its health care woes in a five-year roadmap in March.
The reality is rather different: Dxy is curbing plans to work with public hospitals to help connect doctors and patients online because of a lack of support by Beijing and obstacles working with China’s huge, fragmented public health care sector.
“We’ve heard a lot of good stories from the top – internet-plus, driving force, policy changing – but see nothing happen at the bottom,” Li said. “It’s not about market, capital or even tech – these things are already developed very well ... rather it’s the regulations, laws and systems of support.”
Li’s position reflects wider obstacles to health care reforms in technology, online drug sales, hospital privatisation and doctors’ pay – drivers that are a major lure for investors and firms betting billions of dollars on China opening up a market set to be worth around US$1.3 trillion by 2020.
“I always ask: is there actually a macro tailwind, and is the government and regulatory environment – which is very important in China – supportive of this?” said Alexander Ng, associate principal at McKinsey & Co. “If there are a lot of negative voices, it might make investors back off or calculate a much higher risk premium.”