For China’s ruling Communist Party, the private sector has emerged as an important partner as the authorities attempt to avert a mounting health care crisis.
And so, in an intriguing experiment, the German technology giant Siemens and the hospital operator Asklepios Kliniken are leading the way for private investors with a contract to build and run a hospital in cooperation with a Chinese public-sector partner. The hospital is to be the first in China to operate as a so-called public-private partnership.
In a joint venture with Tongji University in Shanghai, the two German companies aim to open the €100 million, or $145 million, Sino-German Friendship Hospital in Shanghai in time for the 2010 World Expo there. [Full Text]