Beijing's Yiren Medical Group finalized its purchase on Wednesday of the Guangzhou Petrochemical Hospital for 15 million yuan (US$1.8 million). The hospital, operated as a state-owned institution for 26 years, is now a non-profit, privately owned and operated medical care facility.

Formerly operated by the Guangzhou Petrochemical Corporation, a major state-owned enterprise, the hospital was officially renamed the Guangzhou Yiren Hospital. Its registered capital will be 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million).

"The sale of the Petrochemical Hospital is a new test and will be positive for medical reform in Guangdong Province," said Liao Xinbo, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Health, on Thursday.

Liao also stated that the change in ownership will help to introduce a fair and competitive market among state-owned hospitals and their privately operated, foreign-funded and joint venture counterparts in the province.

Guangdong Province, traditionally a leader in the country's opening and reform drive, is planning to take bolder steps in reorganizing its medical management and operation system by allowing its hospitals to become shareholding companies, foreign-funded and privately operated institutions, joint ventures, or partial shareholding companies.

The reform requires hospitals to improve their standards of medical treatment and offer better services. "Patients and local residents will surely benefit from open and fair competition among hospitals in the future," Liao added.

The provincial bureau of public health approved the purchase on September 2.

The Yiren Medical Group will invest more than 450 million yuan (US$54.4 million) to upgrade and expand the hospital in the next few years.

The first phase of expansion will cost 200 million yuan (US$24.2 million) and will include the construction of a new 14-story building for outpatient and inpatient services. The number of beds will increase from the current 150 to more than 500 when the first phase is completed in two years.

The company is also planning to invest more than 70 million yuan (US$8.5 million) in new, advanced medical equipment purchased from abroad later this year.

The hospital is expected to become the largest in Guangzhou's Huangpu District.

Now specializing in treating poisonings, burns and wounds from explosions and other emergencies, the hospital will also focus on studying, treating and curing cancer, tumors and neurological diseases.

To this end, the hospital is currently considering recruiting prestigious doctors and medical experts from around the country.

The hospital will continue to offer medical services to more than 35,000 employees of the Guangzhou Petrochemical Corporation, their family members and other employees from major state-owned enterprises located near the hospital.

(China Daily September 10, 2004)