1. 2000 Interim Measures for the Administration of Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures and Cooperative Medical Institutions
2. 11 Oct 06 A spokesman for the Ministry of Health expressed support for the introduction of foreign investment in public hospitals, and said the hospital market will be liberalized
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (now the Ministry of Commerce) jointly issued the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures and Cooperative Medical Institutions" in May 2000, which came into effect on 1 July 2000. In May 2000, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (now the Ministry of Commerce) jointly issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Sino-foreign Equity and Cooperative Medical Institutions, which came into effect on July 1, 2000. Sino-foreign equity joint venture and cooperative medical institutions refer to medical institutions set up by foreign medical institutions, companies, enterprises and other economic organizations, with the approval of the competent authorities of the Chinese Government, in the form of joint venture or cooperation with Chinese medical institutions and enterprises within the territory of China. The Chinese and foreign parties to the joint venture or cooperation shall have experience in direct and indirect investment in and management of medical and health care, and shall meet one of the following requirements:
(1) they can provide internationally advanced experience in the management of medical institutions, their management mode and service mode; (2) they can provide medical technology and equipment of leading international level; (3) they can supplement or improve local shortcomings in terms of medical service capacity, medical technology, capital and medical facilities; and (4) they can provide medical services to the local community, including medical institutions and enterprises. (3) It can supplement or improve the local deficiencies in medical service capacity, medical technology, capital and medical facilities.
The Sino-foreign equity joint venture or cooperative medical institution shall meet the following conditions: (1) it must be an independent legal person; (2) the total investment shall not be less than 20 million yuan; (3) the equity or interest of the Chinese party in the joint venture or cooperative medical institution shall not be less than 30%; (4) the duration of the joint venture or cooperative venture shall not exceed 20 years.
Applications for the establishment of Sino-foreign equity joint venture, cooperative medical institutions by the provincial health administrative department for approval by the Ministry of Health. Application for the establishment of Sino-foreign equity joint venture, cooperative medical institutions of traditional Chinese medicine reported to the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine examination and forwarded to the Ministry of Health for approval. Applicants in the Ministry of Health set up after the license, to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation application.
Applications for the establishment of Sino-foreign equity joint and cooperative medical institutions in the central and western regions of China or in old, small, remote and poor regions, or applications for the establishment of Sino-foreign equity joint and cooperative medical institutions to provide the scope and content of medical services belonging to the state to encourage the service areas, the conditions can be appropriately relaxed.
Applications for the establishment of wholly foreign-owned medical institutions within China shall not be approved.
In June 2000, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation jointly issued the Notice on the Implementation of the Interim Measures for the Management of Sino-foreign Equity Joint and Co-operative Medical Institutions, which called for the establishment of Sino-foreign equity joint and co-operative medical institutions to carry out a full-scale clean-up and reorganization.
In recent years, the number of joint-venture hospitals in China has been increasing, and there are nearly 200 Chinese-foreign joint-venture and cooperative medical institutions in nearly 20 provinces across the country. However, only about 20 joint venture hospitals and more than 60 joint venture clinics have been formally approved, located in Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Fujian and other places. In many places, the phenomenon of overstepping the authority of approval and management is not standardized.
Beijing's earlier Chinese-foreign joint venture was United Family Hospital, a $4 million joint venture between U.S.-China Industries and the Chinese Academy of Medicine's Concordia Group. Here, it costs $5,000 for a three-day hospital stay to give birth to a child, and $39 for a cold visit within 10 minutes, with a cumulative increase for more than 10 minutes, and serves a largely upper-income class. Recently, USCHIE announced plans to invest $100 million in China to expand cooperation with Chinese medical institutions, and has signed a formal agreement with Shanghai Changning District Central Hospital to invest $8 million in the establishment of a Sino-foreign joint venture for-profit general hospital, United Family Hospital, in which the U.S. side will account for 70 percent of the shares.