According to the Ministry of Health, China had more than 8,800 private hospitals in March this year, a 21 percent increase on the same period last year, while the number of State-owned hospitals fell by 3 percent during the past year.

The National Development and Reform Commission issued policies in May and December encouraging domestic and overseas private investors to set up medical institutions, including hospitals, clinics and health service centers at various levels.

Yet even though the government is showing a positive attitude towards private hospitals and clinics - State-owned hospitals can outsource some of their services to them - there are few official policies to support them.

Lack of support

The lack of support for private hospitals is the reason 50-year-old Huang Shu, a well-known spine surgeon who left a public hospital in northwest China in 2002 to set up a private hospital, says he regretted his decision.

"If I could make the choice again, I would definitely stay in the public hospital," he says.

His hospital, which provides his own unique treatment, receives around 300 patients every day, some of whom are from foreign countries - during our conversation, he received a phone call from an official from Australia who wanted to make an appointment - but even so, the hospital costs a lot to run. The rent for the four-story building is nearly 200 million yuan (25 million euros) a year.

The Chaoyang district government has helped him find a new building that he will move his hospital to this year and has given him 70,000 yuan in financial support. Huang also operates two clinics in Indonesia and these help financially support his hospital in Beijing.

"But we still feel helpless. From a policy prospective, private hospitals should get the same support as public ones," he says.

Huang says it is difficult getting medical insurance to cover his unique treatments, as in China medical insurance is linked to the costs of the medical treatments and medicines that are provided by public hospitals.

But he says another problem is he can't compete with public hospitals when it comes to attracting new doctors.

"Graduates from well-known medical colleges want a Beijing hukou (the highly sought after residence permit) as well as an apartment, which most public hospitals in the city can provide. But for us, all these are impossible," he says.

And another reason talented doctors are hard to find is that even though private hospitals offer higher incomes, doctors working in private hospitals have difficulty moving up the professional ladder. This is because in China the public department that manages the hospital, for example the local health bureau or a certain institute, is in charge of doctor certification. In order to avoid being held responsible for any possible lawsuits in cases of malpractice, some departments delay or refuse to give new certificates to doctors working at private hospitals.

"For senior professional titles, such as deputy-chief and chief physician, we can qualify for the title by passing the national test, but we can't get a certificate," says Xiong Ning, an ophthalmologist, who previously worked in two public hospitals in Beijing, but who moved to the Jia Yue Eye Surgery Centre, under the Singapore Medical Group, a few months ago.

However, Xiong says she decided to join Jia Yue, because the public hospitals she worked in did not specialize in eye surgery and she wanted professional development. Jia Yue offers her opportunities to go abroad to learn new techniques.

To some, such as 39-year-old Zhou Jingsheng, who worked in the rehabilitation center of a public hospital in Beijing for many years, switching to a private hospital offers more job satisfaction.

"Rehabilitation gets less support in public hospitals because it brings in less money than surgery," he says. "Now I can dedicate all my time to taking care of my patients and learning new techniques. Job satisfaction is really important to me."

Zhou says he loves his job and wants to provide patients with the best help he can. He visited the US to learn about rehabilitation techniques in 2008, and in March this year, he joined Beijing United Family Hospital.

"Here, I can apply what I learned in the US and provide better treatment to patients."

yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn