Beijing's first private mental health clinic opens

BEIJING - Beijing's first private mental health clinic opened on Sunday, breaking the monopoly of state-owned hospitals.

The clinic in downtown Beijing is the first private mental health medical institution approved by the health authorities, the Beijing Daily reported on Monday.

At present there are a number of psychological counseling agencies in the city that only provide counseling services but not medical treatment.

The clinic is also China's first mental health clinic to combine online and in-person services.

Fifteen mental health experts from major Beijing hospitals will offer medical services at the clinic as part of a move to encourage doctors to serve patients in multiple hospitals and clinics.

China had 4.3 million severely mentally ill patients on official record at the end of 2014.

A 2015-2020 plan for mental health work set a goal to manage the conditions of more than 80 percent of people with severe mental illnesses by 2020, with treatment covering at least 80 percent of schizophrenia cases.

To address a grave lack of mental health professionals, the plan encourages health institutes to set up psychology clinics and strengthen staff training, raising the projected number of doctors specializing in mental disorders to 40,000 by 2020.