Concord Medical Holdings Buys Controlling Stake in Chinese Hospital

Concord Medical Services Holdings, which claims to be the largest provider of radiology services in the country of China has fortified its position with the purchase of a majority ownership of the 1000-bed Chang’an Hospital. The company could also establish another eight private hospitals by 2022.According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the purchase is symptomatic of a greater push by the Chinese government to privatize at least one-fifth of its healthcare infrastructure in the next three years, which has in turn created a business environment more welcoming of Western interests. Evidence of that may be found in the May 2012 establishment of a GE facility in Chengdu, Bloomberg says, that could provide imaging technology to rural Chinese.