29-Jul-16 Chinese conglomerates Fosun and Alibaba are betting big on the country’s reforms of the healthcare system. But so far the country’s rigidly-regulated market is proving a more bitter pill to swallow than expected, say experts. Ali Health's plans took an early setback in Jun-16 when the government unexpectedly halted online drug sales by third-party platforms. [image: SMCP]

28-Jul-16 Dubbed the Brilliant Hospital initiative, hospitals in Japan could be plugged into a powerful cloud network that can share, analyze, and visualize terabytes of equipment (and someday patient) data. This saves time on repair procedures and helps doctors see more patients. It also helps them spot trends and make better diagnoses in the future. [image: GE Healthcare]

28-Jul-16 With hopes of breaking into the Japanese medical industry one day, trading house Mitsui will deepen its hospital management experience by investing USD101 mn in a 16% stake in Columbia Asia, the largest hospital operator in Asia serving middle-class patients. Columbia Asia specializes in outpatient and simple treatments, and owns 28 medical facilities in four countries. [image: W3LiveNews]

28-Jul-16 Within five years, one in three US surgeries - more than double current levels – is expected to be performed with robotic systems, with surgeons sitting at computer consoles guiding mechanical arms. Companies developing new robots also plan to expand their use in India, China and other emerging markets. [image: Intuitive Surgical / Reuters]

27-Jul-16 As of yet, there have been no big business successes in Chinese mobile health. Most apps have failed to generate significant numbers of users, let alone produce much revenue. As investor sentiment cools, many startups are cash poor heading into a painful shake out. China's healthcare system remains overwhelmingly financed by government insurance. [image: AP]