17-Jan-17 India’s Practo has raised US$55 mn in funding led by China’s Tencent. The funds will be used to foray into health insurance, bundling it with its consumer-facing services. Practo aggregates over 200,000 doctors across 10,000 hospitals, 8,000 diagnostic centers and 4,000 wellness and fitness centers in India, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. [image: Tech In Asia]

31-Dec-16 As throngs of Venezuelans trek to Brazil in search of food and medicine, hospitals along Brazil’s northern border are struggling to pick up the pieces of Venezuela’s failing healthcare system. An economic crisis and hyperinflation have cleaned Venezuelan hospitals of supplies. Desperate for care and often undocumented, patients are overwhelming Brazilian emergency rooms as they turn up by the thousands. [image: Marina Lopes / The Washington Post]

27-Sep-16 The US Cooperative for International Patient Programs (USCIPP) has partnered with Health Brand Group to promote USA healthcare services in the international markets of China, Hong Kong, and Brazil. The message is of quality of treatment and care, not saving money. The target is 30% overall growth in patients by 2018. [image: IMTJ]

20-Oct-16 Verb Surgical, J&J’s joint venture with Verily Life Sciences, plans to produce 'truly robotic' system that will improve surgical outcomes worldwide. "If you go to Shanghai, quality of care is actually quite good, at the Shanghai Hospital... Go 40 kilometers north... not so good,” said J&J medical devices chairman Gary Pruden. “Our goal is to democratize surgery." [image: OrthoFeed]

05-Oct-16 Chinese conglomerate Fosun International is in advanced talks to acquire Hospital da Bahia, a Brazilian hospital in the city of Salvador, for about BRL1 bn (USD308 mn). Brazilian business daily Valor Economico reported that Fosun is also looking to spend an additional BRL2 bn on other acquisitions to form a Brazilian hospital chain. [image: Fosun International Ltd]