Pain relief

A hospital is never a pleasant experience, no matter how good the treatment is. But home care, of course, is not what the doctor ordered if what's ailing you is beyond a simple bruise or ache.

China's community hospital network of 23,000 clinics bridges the gap between large hospitals and homes with small community hospitals - clinics - that treat common ailments such as fevers, colds, the flu, headaches and some stomach troubles.

But the clinics often lack resources and qualified professionals to give patients the complete relief they seek or to deal with more complex illnesses and accidents.

Now German-based Bayer Healthcare and the Community Health Association of China (CHAC) have joined forces to upgrade the country's community hospitals with a 10 million yuan investment.

With the money as many as 20,000 doctors in 12,000 of China's community hospitals will gain professional training from Bayer during the next three years.

The corporate social responsibility program is also looking to promote more public confidence in the community hospitals.

"We will also conduct a lot of healthcare educational activities in more than 100 cities across China," Liam Condon, managing director of Bayer Healthcare China, tells China Business Weekly.

With a long-term experience in manufacturing medicines for chronic disease patients (and as the company that invented aspirin) Bayer is also focusing on improving chronic disease treatment service in China's community hospitals and will enlarge the range of medical services in the facilities.

"The project, entitled 'Home', means to promote comfortable, home-like but professional medical services for patients," says Condon.

Statistics from CHAC show that China has made great efforts to build up its community hospitals. So far, the 23,000 community hospitals cover 98 percent of Chinese cities, and around 260,000 doctors and nurses are engaged in community healthcare treatment nationwide, according to a CHAC report.

"(But) some of community facilities are still in their infancy in China," says Jiang Zuojun, chairman of Community Health Association of China (CHAC). "A program to improve their services and professional treatment is underway, but we have to draw more public attention to take an active role in promoting professional services in community medical facilities, especially in western China, with assistance from the government," Jiang says.

Improved community hospitals might also ease the strain on China's large, overcrowded hospitals where inefficiency is a big problem as patients typically wait long time for diagnosis and treatment, Condon says. "Development of community medical care facilities may help resolve the problem and ease pressure of large hospitals. Bayer is contributing to help on this issue," he says.

Gao Runlin, academician of Cardiovascular Institute under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, points out that the current state of chronic disease treatment in China is facing serious problems. He says that every 15 seconds in China someone dies due to cardiovascular disease.

"But we can better control this kind of disease by promoting a better lifestyle and by checking blood pressures and blood sugar levels - all of which can be best implemented by small-sized community hospitals," Gao says.

"Based on Bayer's experiences in treating chronic diseases, we hope to enlarge the cooperation with local governments, community administrators and the large number of doctors, to make our medical treatment system much more convenient and cheaper," says Liu Qian, China's vice-minister of health.

The Home project is just one part of Bayer's healthcare treatment programs in China.

Late last year, the company signed an agreement with the Ministry of Health to provide training for 10,000 doctors in 332 rural counties in western China.

According to Condon, the rural training project will take five years, and the medical company will invest more than 20 million yuan in it.

"So far, this project is the largest charitable doctor-training project made by a multinational company in China," says Qi Qingdong, also a vice-minister of health. "Training for rural doctors is one of the most effective ways to promote a better lifestyle and prevent sickness for rural residents."

Gansu province will be the pilot area for Bayer's doctors training project. Another 10 provinces, including Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, will follow.

Bayer will also cooperate with local universities to promote more localized services.

"Through these projects, we can better spread our brand across China," Condon explains. "And it is obvious that a higher level medical treatment service will help Bayer supply international healthcare services to China."

(China Daily 08/11/2008 page8)