Mainland, Taiwan to jointly found hospital

BEIJING - Mainland and Taiwan investors announced Thursday that they would jointly found a maternity hospital in Beijing.

The project, with an investment of 200 million yuan ($31.75 million), will be the first cross-Straits hospital in Beijing since the mainland openeded the sector to Taiwan investors in the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 2009, according to a press release issued by the investors.

The hospital named Beijing Baodao Healthcare will be jointly funded by Taiwan Kuang-yu Hospital Management Consulting Co Ltd and Beijing Baodao International Hospital Management Co Ltd.

The hospital will have 100 beds and be put into operation in August.

The project marks a new stage of closer and deeper medical cooperation between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits, said Li Bingcai, vice president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), at a press conference in Beijing.

"We are expecting the project to be a good example of cross-Straits medical cooperation," he said.

The project showed that the ECFA has contributed to the development of medical cooperation across the Straits, said Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), at the same press conference.

The hospital will introduce hospital management models from Taiwan and attract medical talent in Beijing. It is hoped that medical exchanges between medical practitioners on both sides will become more commonplace, said Chuang Wei-chou, head of the hospital.