Taiwanese scent health danger in
China By Ting-I Tsai
TAIPEI - When the youngest son of the late
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's closest aide, Chen
Li-fu, visited mainland China last September, he
was planning to attend a family reunion and do a
little sightseeing, but he didn't expect it would
be his final journey.
James Chen
unexpectedly died in Beijing. He was not a
victim of any political intrigue between the
Chinese Communist Party and Taiwan's Kuomintang
(KMT). He was just one of the many victims of
incompetence in China's hospitals.
For the
more than a million Taiwanese residing on the
mainland today, visiting a local hospital can
prove a hazard to their health. But soon they may
be able to check in with somewhat more confidence,
since several Taiwanese hospitals will kick off
operations across the
mainland by 2008. Healthy profit-making, however,
will not come easy, analysts predict.
To
enhance its own health-care development, China
opened the hospital market to foreign investors in
2000 but set a ceiling of a 70% share in any one
venture. Since then, China has approved more than
200 applications for joint-venture (JV) hospital
investments.
For mainland-based Taiwanese,
Beijing's green light has been a relief. In the
past two decades, the only realistic prescription
when sick was self-care or, in the event of a
major illness, a trip back to Taiwan. Most
Taiwanese residing on the mainland stock up with
all kinds of medicines, ranging from relief from
flu and stomach ache to headache tablets, before
crossing the strait.
Their reluctance to
visit mainland hospitals stems from a perception
of extensive malpractice, plus demands for
unnecessary examinations and treatments, as well
as prescribing unnecessary or unknown medicines.
James Chen got the flu in Beijing during a
trip last September. He was then diagnosed with
liver cancer after being referred to a hospital
for an examination. Chen wanted to double-check
with Taiwanese doctors before proceeding, but the
hospital insisted he go through a surgery
immediately, claiming he was in critical
condition.
His wife Lin Ying never managed
to learn which doctor conducted the surgery, but
found out her husband's ribs were broken and
internal organs were bleeding when doctors tried
to transplant a new liver in him. Lin has been
fighting for an official apology and proper
explanation from the hospital since last year, but
no satisfactory response was ever granted.
"I simply don't understand why such a
developing country would provide this kind of
medical service," Lin said, "My motive is simply
to issue a warning. I don't want to see the same
thing happen again."
Anticipating high
demand, Taiwan's United-Shin Healthcare
Enterprise's Chen Xin Hospital in Shanghai opened in July
2001, staffed with Taiwanese doctors to serve
Taiwanese patients. Some 150-200 outpatients visit
the hospital daily.
The company's main
goal, however, is using the hospital as a role
model to promote its specialty, hospital
management, and to win more contracts from local
hospitals, according to the hospital's chief
executive officer, Chang Huan-chen. "It has been a
difficult path to operate a hospital here," Chang
said, noting that it look a long time for the
hospital to break even.
Another entrant is
Want Want Hunan Hospital, part of the Want Want
Food Group. It was one of three hospital JVs
approved in 2000, and it opened last December with
an initial investment of 700 million yuan (US$87.7
million). The group's president, Tsai Yien-ming,
said he was frustrated visiting hospitals on the
mainland.
"I always feel nervous, scared,
and helpless when I visit [mainland] hospitals. I
hope our hospital will ease patients' fears," Tsai
was quoted on the hospital's website.
As
the only private hospital in Changsha, a city of
6.6 million, it is not fully trusted, though.
According to the hospital, it only receives about
500 outpatients daily despite the hospital being
well equipped with medical gadgets from Siemens
and having only three competitors. Furthermore, a
hospital-staff boycott has made recruiting local
professionals difficult.
"I have heard
lots of Taiwanese entrepreneurs interested in
opening hospitals in China, assuming they would
make profits after hospitals were constructed.
Want Want is probably an object lesson. It has
faced numerous problems and loses 10 million yuan
monthly," said Lee Yuan-the, former superintendent
of the National Taiwan University Hospital and
incumbent president of the Min-Sheng Healthcare
Network, which cooperates with Want Want by
sending Taiwanese doctors and conducting hospital
management.
By the end of next year, more
Taiwanese JVs will be launched, including
high-tech giant Benq's hospitals in Nanjing and
Suzhou, Formosa Plastic's Chang Gung hospital in
Xiamen and Pou Chen's Yuyuan hospital in Guangdong. Meanwhile,
Show Chwan health-care system and Country Hospital
are evaluating the feasibility of opening
hospitals.
Benq originally planned to
operate a clinic solely for its own employees
after several died on the mainland. It has become
more ambitious, thinking that a Taiwan-run
hospital will promote its image in China.
Benq's first hospital with 3,000 beds in
Nanjing will open in October 2007, and its Suzhou
location with 1,500 beds will initiate operations
a year later.
Acknowledging the current
problems Taiwanese hospitals are facing on the
mainland, Benq Hospital chief Chen I-san said the
establishments will seek to provide "better
service and a cheaper price" than state-run
hospitals.
Chen Chin-wen, professor at the
National Yang Ming University's Institute of
Hospital and Health Care Administration, who
conducted a survey on China's hospitals, noted
that Taiwanese hospitals should enjoy major
advantages in management, capital acquisition, and
professionalism. Language and cultural background
also put the Taiwanese in a leading position.
Despite these apparent advantages, not all
of the JVs win approval. Taiwan's leading Chang
Gung Hospital, which planned to establish
operations in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengchou and
Xiamen, was turned down. The hospital, which once
had planned to invest some 200 million yuan to
create a medical-care network with nursing schools
and hospitals with more than 10,000 beds, is now
waiting for its first hospital in Xiamen, which
has 500 beds, to be completed.
In April
2005, after former KMT chairman Lien Chan visited
Beijing for a summit with President Hu Jintao,
China eased restrictions to allow Taiwanese
doctors to practice in mainland hospitals for one
year. Political analysts suggested the policy was
intended to win hearts and minds of Taiwanese
doctors, the majority of whom support Taiwan's
ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
"Curing more patients would help doctors
improve their professional skills," Dr Lee
Yuan-the at Min-sheng said, explaining his support
for sending Taiwanese doctors to mainland China.
"Chinese doctors lack empathy with patients,
whereas Taiwan is a leader in the medical service
field. This is a chance for Taiwan to show its
value to Chinese."
Ting-I Tsai
is a Taipei-based freelance writer.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing
.)
