China is building a USD3 billion medical tourism hotspot
03-May-17, Skift
On the hilly and tropical island of Hainan, local officials and companies are investing billions of dollars to transform a string of riverside villages into a medical tourism destination.
%20Skift.jpeg "China is building a USD3 billion medical tourism hotspot (c) Skift")
Image: Skift
Their aim? To lure wealthy Chinese patients, who might otherwise venture overseas, to this province in the South China Sea known for its beach-front resorts. To do so they are making an unusual promise: The hub will bring in cutting-edge treatments for diseases like cancer that are available abroad, but don’t yet have regulatory approval in China.
There’s plenty of demand. The travel site Ctrip.com estimates about half a million Chinese traveled abroad for medical services last year. Millions are dying from cancer and heart disease, but regulatory bottlenecks have slowed approvals for the newest international therapies. Chinese hospitals are overflowing, and affluent jet-setters prefer Japan for physical check-ups or the U.S. for genetic screenings.