19-Feb-16 Non-emergency patients will soon have to make advance appointments to attend 22 major hospitals under the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health & Family Planning. The hospitals will stop issuing registration tickets on arrival and patients will have to make appointments online, by phone or at ticket machines in the hospitals. The measure is hoped to reduce excessive crowds. [image: Xinhua]

18-Feb-16 The Philippines’ oldest conglomerate Ayala Corp plans to expand its investments in the healthcare sector with the roll out of 100 retail clinics under the brand-name FamilyDoc over the next three years. So far, it has two FamilyDoc clinics located in Las Piñas and Imus, Cavite. The clinics will house a pharmacy, a diagnostic center, and physicians to handle consultations. [image: Retail News Asia]

18-Feb-16 Australia's Telstra will continue to invest in its Telstra Health division to allow it to grow in scale, capability and reputation, Telstra said as it released its half-year financial results, which showed net profit USD2.1 bn. Activities in the half included acquiring Health IQ, which supplies patient flow software, and community care software firm EOS Technologies. [image: Pulse + IT]

18-Feb-16 As Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat race to establish exclusive world class medical device manufacturing parks, the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry has recommended eight key policy measures which must be rolled out to ensure the financial viability of these parks and to make India an international hub for medical device manufacturing. [image: Indian White Paper]

18-Feb-16 A government AUD200 mn Beds Rescue Fund is on track to open 101 new beds and points of care in less than one year in Victoria, Australia, which will treat nearly 20,000 extra patients every year. [image: Premier of Victoria]