For entrepreneur, app a day keeps the doctor away

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.

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. Its purpose is to figure out a non-traditional hospital management system and service standards.

We have received a nod from Hangzhou authorities in Zhejiang province to open a comprehensive clinic and we are decorating our office. Our clinic will be small in size and we expect to hire more than 10 doctors. Compared with most hospitals in China, we emphasise the "internet mindset" in our service. For example, for people with chronic diseases, we will give them wearable smart devices, with which we can monitor from a distance their blood sugar, blood pressure and other indexes. We will also remind them to take their medication or visit doctors through WeChat, our app or the devices. We also incorporate the Western nursing concept that highlights patients' psychological needs.