23-Nov-15 Vietnam's will increase public hospital fees in early 2016, instead of Dec-15, Nguyen Nam Lien, the Ministry of Health has said. With this fee increase, patients will pay two to four times more than when using healthcare services at state-owned hospitals. Currently 73% of the population is covered by health insurance, which means 25 mn people are self-paying. [image: Dantri]

20-Nov-15 With growing numbers of Chinese celebrities such as Olympic athlete Liu Xiang seeking treatment abroad, more people in China are realizing they can also seek medical care overseas. The five-year cancer survival rate is 30%, half that of patients in the US. Besides lower standards of care, complaints about Chinese hospitals include long waiting times, lengthy diagnoses and impatient doctors. [image: MetroCebu News]

19-Nov-15 In a bid to upgrade the quality of medical staff in primary healthcare, the Indonesian government and 18 universities will begin providing specialized education to medical students and practitioners in 2016. There are 107,000 primary care physicians at present, with the government estimating it needs 40,000 to undergo training and education. [image: Indoboom]

19-Nov-15 Private hospital group Healthscope has acquired the 83-bed Hunter Valley Private Hospital in New South Wales for $71.3 million. After the acquisition, Healthscope will operate 46 hospitals throughout Australia. [image: Patrick Scala]

19-Nov-15 Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced the opening of a new GMP facility in Singapore. The new site is intended to meet growing demand for clinical supply services in the region. It will provide pharma and biotech companies with a one-stop service for clinical supplies – including GMP storage, labelling, packaging, comparator sourcing, handling, distribution and returns management. [image: Thermo Fisher Scientific]