Britain's Wei leads healthcare initiative

Business delegation to China focuses on talking with potential partners

The healthcare expertise of the United Kingdom can help China develop a stronger economy, said Nathanael Ming-Yan Wei, the only active Chinese peer in Britain's House of Lords.

"If we can leverage the UK's expertise in China and help China to achieve affordable healthcare," Wei said, "then you can invest the money that people otherwise spend on health emergencies."

As the UK's National Healthcare Service is one of the most respected universal coverage systems in the world, many healthcare companies from the region see an opportunity to share their expertise abroad, and China is an obvious market.

To help cement such ties, Wei is leading a delegation of about 10 businesses to visit Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Changzhou, Chengdu, Zhengzhou and Huai'an in Jiangsu province during the first two weeks of April.

He said the trip will focus on helping the companies initiate talks with potential Chinese partners, as well as learn more about opportunities in China, which can then be shared with other companies in the UK.

One business in the delegation is International Hospital Group, a healthcare services company that works closely with the NHS. And a notable figure in the delegation is Maggie Pearson, dean of the University of Salford's College of Health and Social Care.

Wei said many of the businesses in his delegation have a strong link with Manchester, the famous industrial city in the English Midlands, now home to a major healthcare sector.

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