UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt attended the signing
Heythorp Healthcare, a London-based health and community care company plans to invest £40 million (US$65 million) to develop health care centres in China.
The plan is based on memoranda of understanding between Heythorp and China-based partners that were signed during UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent trade visit to China. Under the terms of the memoranda, the UK firm will develop health-care parks in Nanjing and Kunming.
The two memoranda, which were signed in the presence of UK Health Secretary, the Rt.Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP, call for Heythorp to set up joint ventures with the Jiangsu Far East Group and Chinese state-owned CITIC Trust for development of two facilities.
The Nanjing facility, China-UK Healthcare Park, would comprise a 56,000 square metre mixed-use medical centre in the capital of Jiangsu province. The project promises to deliver UK standard care for primary health and senior care, including a rehabilitation centre and a dementia care facility.
The project will also include a 4,600 square metre healthcare training centre to train Chinese healthcare students and ensure that the quality of care meets international standards.
In Kunming, the new joint venture health care centre would be part of the Kunming Aqua International Health & Wellness Park being developed by one of China’s largest industrial and financial conglomerates. Kunming is the capital of Yunnan province in southwestern China.
China’s Health Care Sector Attracting More Investment
Since China lifted some of its restrictons on foreign investment in the country’s medical industry, the sector has proved to be an inviting target for international firms.
McKinsey and Company has projected that health care spending in China will grow from $357 billion in 2011 to $1 trillion in 2020, and just last week Harvard University announced a plan to develop medical centres in China in cooperation with real estate developer Evergrande.
Commenting on the demand for health care services in the country, Dai Dyfed Evans, Director of Heythorp Healthcare said, “China’s population is obviously vast and aging rapidly. With increasing incidence of complex and long term health conditions, ability and willingness to pay for high quality healthcare and a shortage of international quality healthcare facilities and services currently available, the opportunity for British companies in the China market are unprecedented.”
Evans is a veteran of China’s real estate industry, having earlier served as Chief Representative & Chief Investment Officer at Treasury China Trust (later Forterra Trust), as well as Managing Director China for Cushman and Wakefield.
Heythorp Healthcare is a London-based international healthcare management company. The firm works with property developers and owners internationally to design and manage premium quality healthcare facilities and is particularly active in the delivery of elderly health care and training services in China.
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