New remediesfor the ailinghealthcare sector
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YOU’RE not feeling well. Where do you turn?
In a country where most doctors work in hospitals, you can choose to sit and wait hours for a five-minute appointment with a physician who is overworked and doesn’t know you. Or you can try self-diagnosis via the Internet, running risks in a realm filled with often dodgy medical advice.
Frenchman Sebastien Gaudin offers a reliable alternative.
In 2014, he released the healthcare app called CareVoice, based in a shared-office worksite in Jing’an.
The website now has about 40,000 registered users and covers more than 1,000 hospitals and 60,000 doctors. Users can vet information on health clinics, hospitals and doctors, and share their opinions with others.
“Most people here, whether they are Chinese or expats, are not necessarily aware of good healthcare services available to them,” Gaudin said. “We are trying to tell them, ‘Hey, you live here. You don’t necessarily need to go to a very big hospital if you have just a simple health issue or you want to see a doctor who actually knows you.’”
His is not the only alternative to packed waiting rooms in hospitals.
Chinese health authorities are now trying to build a network of general practitioners outside the hospital system. Five years ago, the State Council, or China’s cabinet, stipulated that a system of community-based family doctors would be established by 2020. Shanghai has been an active participant in the process.
This year, the city launched a program to integrate the Internet with community medical facilities, providing a platform for online consultations with family physicians and green channels to specialists.
Among seven communities that implemented a pilot project three months ago, the West Nanjing Road Community in Jing’an has already signed up 2,159 residents, more than 90 percent of them senior citizens.
Qi Oufeng, 68, was among the first to join the project.
“I was very interested when I heard about it from a community official,” she said. “It’s really attractive.”
Qi suffers from diabetes. She used to have to travel more than half an hour to pick up medicine at a hospital. Now she just taps her mobile phone, and her prescription is delivered to her home.
Learning new technology
Learning how to use such apps is a bit of a challenge for many elderly. But where there is a will, there is a way. Many older residents in Qi’s community are now using the medical app.
“It’s important to teach them learn how to use today’s smartphones,” said Zhang Huiying, a chief physician at the community health center. “So we hold lessons to give them personal help.”
The community now has 13 family doctors who can monitor the vital signs of users, like blood pressure, on a daily basis. The readings are transmitted in real time, and users can talk to the doctor of their choice at any time.
When patients require more intensive care, the family doctors find appropriate specialists at hospitals and arrange quick and easy access.
The system offers convenience and also raises awareness that people have to take some responsibility for their own healthcare,” Zhang said. “We especially want people with chronic diseases to monitor readings of their blood pressure and blood sugar levels. By keeping in touch with doctors, they can learn to best manage their lives and lessen the risks of any conditions they develop.”
Preventive healthcare is becoming a big business.
The World Health Organization says every 1 yuan (15 US cents) spent on prevention will save 8.5 yuan in treatment costs and 100 yuan in emergency care costs.
The Jing’an-based Cloud Health Medical Group is at the vanguard of the trend. It moved into genetic diagnosis in 2014. At its facilities on Plaza 889, customers give 2 milliliters of saliva and 5 milliliters of blood. The samples are sent to labs who build a genetic picture of each person, using HiSeq X Ten, a leading genetic sequencer produced by Nasdaq-listed biotech firm Illumina.
Cloud Health has 10 such devices. By studying the composition of a patient’s genetic makeup, it can offer fairly accurate predictions about possible health risks and suggest steps for early intervention.
“It’s your health passport,” said Jenny Wu, Cloud Health’s marketing director.
“We cooperate with 302 hospitals, including the renowned Ruijin and Zhongshan facilities. Our customers can take their genetic reports there and see doctors we especially recommend for them.”
Jerry Wu, Cloud Health’s vice president, worked in one of the city’s best hospitals for seven years. In 2003, he left to devote his time to the Pink Ribbon campaign, which aims to raise public awareness about breast cancer.
Now running operations at Cloud Health, he said he thinks gene sequencing is the way of the future.
“It’s exciting technology,” he said, “and there’s no doubt that is the direction healthcare is taking.”
It’s also expensive at present. A full genetic scan costs about 49,800 yuan.
Wu, however, said time will bring down the costs and expand public knowledge about the benefits of the new technology.
“It’s common for people to be wary about new technologies,” he said. “But that will change as we progress. What we need to do now is raise awareness.”
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