Mobile health sector expected to hit 12.5b yuan by 2017

China's mobile healthcare market is expected to see fast growth and hit 12.5 billion yuan ($2 billion) by 2017, according to a report released by China Medical Pharmaceutical Material Association at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to the 2014 China Medical Internet Development Report released by the CMPMA, there are more than 2,000 mobile healthcare applications in China.

The report states that the market in China will expand by 400 percent when compared to 2013 when the market was at about 2.36 billion yuan.

The dramatic growth of the mobile healthcare market can be largely attributed to the fast development of China's mobile internet, said Long Yan, deputy president of CMPMA at the conference.

As of 2014, the number of China's internet users through cell phones was 527 million.

While the market has grown, Long said a number of healthcare apps were pulled from app stores over the past year due to poor performance and user retention.

Companies are required to integrate the online apps with offline services and products to cater to the developing trend of the mobile healthcare industry, added Long.