Canada­China hospital being developed CMAJ 1997;157:1337 © 1997 Canadian Medical Association Canadians are playing a key role in developing China's first joint-venture hospital. Interhealth Canada China Inc., an Ontario company, is majority owner of the development, known as the Beijing/Toronto International Hospital Project. Construction of the first 80-bed phase is to begin this month, with the hospital expected to open late in 1998. Eventually it will have 250 beds. Unlike most foreign-run hospitals in China, which employ British or American managers, the Beijing hospital will be run by Canadians. Fifty staff members, including a medical director, are currently being recruited. Forty percent of medical staff will be Canadian, with the first 15 Canadian doctors being recruited next summer. Initially, all Chinese physicians employed at the hospital will be foreign trained; Chinese doctors hired later will be given additional training at the hospital. The first Canadians on staff will move to Beijing about March. The hospital will be aimed at the foreign-expatriate market, although it may also be available to Chinese employees of multinational corporations and entrepreneurs. Wilson Parasiuk, chair of Interhealth Canada China Inc., says there are 160 000 expatriates in China and the hospital will fill a growing demand for in-country treatment. Today, most foreign patients with a serious illness are evacuated. The new hospital hopes to receive Canadian accreditation within 2 years of opening. Ontario's Hamilton Health Sciences Centre is playing a key role, for once the Chinese hospital is operating the Hamilton site will act as a telemedicine consulting base. John Tegenfeldt, CEO with the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board who will assume the same post with the Chinese hospital in December, says specialized radiological images may be sent to Hamilton for interpretation, with the Canadian hospital functioning as a "tertiary referral centre." Down the road, Canadian doctors can expect more employment opportunities in China. Interhealth Canada China Inc. has been licensed to build 8 primary care medical centres in other cities, including Shanghai. All of the sites have a local population of at least 3 million people, as well as significant numbers of expatriates. -- © Heather Kent Send a letter to the editor responding to this article Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cet article | CMAJ November 15, 1997 (vol 157, no 10) / JAMC le 15 novembre 1997 (vol 157, no 10) |