China eager to embrace tech to meet overflowing health care demands

Patients need to have plenty of patience, especially in China’s under-resourced health care system where rural parents often travel with their sick children to seek treatment at Beijing’s Children Hospital but end up having to literally camp outside because of a shortage of lodgings in the city, or where the needs of the ageing population are rising with more than 200 million people aged over 60, equivalent to the entire population of Indonesia.

It is no wonder the country is so eager to embrace technology to meet the overflowing demand for health care services.

Medical equipment and pharmaceuticals were designated as priorities for research and development under a new three year plan unveiled by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planning body.

China will encourage independent research on medical imaging equipment, devices for assistive diagnosis and treatment, and the establishment of professional technological platforms to monitor quality of the equipment, the NDRC noted.

The R&D push is part of an ambitious goal to improve average life expectancy from 76.3 years in 2015 to 79 year old by 2030, and reduce mortality rates among young patients with chronic diseases by a third, from 19.1 per cent, according to a guideline issued by the State Council.