The local-made Tesla rolled off the assembly line at the end of the year, and China’s first foreign-funded comprehensive hospital officially opened. As China’s earliest listed free trade zone, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone announced on Sep 26th 2019 the latest developments in two major benchmarking projects.
“Shanghai Free Trade Zone Lingang New Area is Tesla’s “Dream City”.” said Tao Lin, Tesla’s global vice president. Tesla completed factory construction, equipment installation and commissioning in less than one year.
The opening up is not only shown in advanced manufacturing industry but also modern service industry. The first foreign owned comprehensive hospital in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, Shanghai Artemed Hospital, announced its official opening after five years of construction on Sep 26.
As a well-known German medical brand, Artemed SE is one of the first batch foreign medical institutions to enter the Chinese market after the Shanghai Free Trade Zone opened its medical service industry to the outside world. Shanghai Artemed Hospital is also one of the pilot cooperation projects in the 2014 “Sino-German Health Cooperation Action Plan”. The overall plan of Shanghai Artemed Hospital is divided into two phases (500 beds). The first phase opened on 26th (200 beds), featuring orthopedics and oncology. “In Germany, about 200,000 people receive orthopedic surgery including joint replacement every year. We hope to bring such mature experience to China to promote medical exchanges between China and Germany.” Prof. Dr. Rainer Salfeld, CEO of Artemed SE, said that thanks to the expansion of the free trade zone and the assistance of the Waigaoqiao Group, Artemed Hospital can successfully register and settle in Shanghai.
Pan Feng, Executive Dean of Shanghai Artemed Hospital, said that the hospital is exploring the internationally accepted Diagnosis Related Group system (DRGs). The so-called diagnosis related groups refers to comprehensive consideration of the patient’s age, gender, hospitalization days, clinical diagnosis, illness, surgery, comorbidities and complications, put the cases with similar clinical processes and similar costs to the same DRG. At the basis of the DRGs, the payment standard of each group is formulated through scientific calculations then makes pre-payment to medical institutions based on this standard. While ensuring curative effects, this system will fundamentally force hospitals to reduce unnecessary medical consumption. “We hope that while reducing the burden on patients and social security expenditures, this move can also promote China’s medical system reform.”
The expansion and opening up of the free trade zone mean more than just introducing one or two foreign investment projects. Through opening up, the free trade zone will promote China’s domestic reforms and accelerate the integration of China’s overall business environment with advanced international standards.