Town Health International, a Hong Kong health services provider,
plans to open 30 dental hospitals and clinics on the mainland
within two years, part of a trend of professional service firms
shying away from the saturated Hong Kong market.
Town Health has earmarked HK$80 million to acquire mainland
hospitals, CEO Cho Kwai-chee told China Daily. "Hospitals sized
20,000 to 30,000 square feet will be our target. We plan to acquire
six to 10 hospitals this year," he added.
Town Health opened its first dental hospital on the mainland in
April.
Under a joint-venture agreement, Town Health and Hua Xia
Healthcare Holdings will open a dental hospital in Fuzhou of east
China. Town Health will hold a 60 percent stake and the initial
investment is HK$10 million.
Town Health is also interested in running wholly owned hospitals
on the mainland once overseas company are given the green light to
do so, Cho said.
At present, overseas investors are not allowed to run wholly
owned hospitals, though the restriction is expected to be lifted
soon.
Therefore, the Hong Kong-listed company will continue to expand
its mainland presence by running hospitals with local partners. But
it insists on holding a controlling stake.
The company would also provide expertise to train mainland
doctors to maintain efficiency. "We won't deploy too many human
resources from Hong Kong. It is more cost-effective if they can
eventually be run by locals," Cho said.
"We hope to keep the profit margin of our mainland businesses on
par with Hong Kong, which is 15 percent to 20 percent," he
said.
The company also plans to capitalize on the rise of mainlanders
traveling to Hong Kong. He said the company's medical chain
subsidiaries -Hong Kong Health Check and Laboratory Holdings -
coordinate with mainland agents to organize body checks for
mainlanders coming to Hong Kong.
"We issue VIP cards to our mainland customers, which encourages
them to come back to Hong Kong more frequently for medical
check-ups," he said.
(China Daily June 15, 2007)