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On July 9, Vice Mayor of Beijing, Ding Xiangyang, paid an official visit to Beijing United Family Hospital (BJU) together with about 20 other Beijing and Chaoyang district officials. The group expressed a high opinion of BJU and promised to support the hospital's future development.
Ms. Roberta Lipson, Chair of United Family Healthcare and CEO of its parent company, Chindex International as well as Ms. Sylvia Pan, General Manager of BJU, and several BJU department heads welcomed the city and district officials. After a tour of the facilities, BJU personnel invited their guests to a casual reception.
"On behalf of the Beijing city government, I want to thank you. On behalf of Beijing's 20 million residents, I express deep respect," said Mr. Ding to the medical and service personnel, many of whom have worked at BJU for more than 10 years.
"My impression of BJU used to be that it simply had high fees and good service. After this visit, I've been deeply impressed," said Mr. Ding. "Where could you find such a good hospital? Why, it's right on our doorstep."
"The Beijing city government supports you [BJU] in your efforts to run such a high-quality hospital. We hope your investors will continue to invest in Beijing. We'd like to see more and bigger replicas of this kind of hospital."
Mr. Ding said that high-end service satisfies a different type of medical demand that is important to the Beijing market. This market is relatively large. High-end services were lacking among Beijing's earlier marketplace offerings.
Ms. Lipson said that BJU has been established in Beijing for 13 years and has always enjoyed the support of Beijing city and Chaoyang district officials. She expressed her thanks for this support. She said that the hospital was happy to receive Mr. Ding and the officials as well as to have their support. She added that BJU's investors would be informed of the city government's support of the hospital.
During the visit, Mr. Ding made an important announcement: The Beijing city government's healthcare reform policies will offer equal support to the development of both private and public hospitals.
He said, "In the past, we've given a lot of publicity to state-owned hospitals. A major point of this healthcare reform is to ensure that different healthcare systems are treated equally. Everyone should be able to enjoy the same medical treatment and healthcare conditions. This time around, we've selected a few outstanding private hospitals in Beijing that we are glad can receive some free publicity."
During the reception, Mr. Ding expressed his support of policy changes that would facilitate BJU's development - for example, facilitating the process of joining medical insurance systems, facilitating the expansion medical facilities, etc.
