Saving lives, making money

Steve Berhow, 54, a US national, started his career in sales of medical devices in 1985 and has always been interested in working in China. His US company Aqure Medical Inc designs, develops, produces and sells medical devices and equipment used in minimally invasive diagnostic and interventional procedures. His startup in China imports such equipment and sells in the local market.

Aqure's image-guided X-rays, CT-scans, ultrasound tests and MRI tests can diagnose and help treat many diseases related to interventional cardiology and neurology. There were over 290 million cardiovascular disease patients in China in 2016.

He said: "I started working with my first Chinese partner in 1999 and still retain a strong relationship with him. The market has one of the biggest patient populations in the world.

"New and innovative devices are needed for this market. The Chinese government has been very helpful in bringing new medical device technologies forward."

Berhow holds numerous patents and is always seeking to help create or launch new devices and technologies in the global medical industry, including in China.

"Our high-quality, unique products are going to target the mid-level medical device market in China and other countries, helping both people and physicians."

Government measures for prevention and treatment of killer diseases at county-level healthcare facilities aim at bringing down morbidity and mortality, and improving grass-roots doctors' management skills.

"I am optimistic about the company's development in China," he said, adding both medical reforms and encouragement from the Chinese government will help firms such as Aqure to introduce new technologies into the Chinese market.

"China's reforms in the healthcare sector make the medical device market more transparent and fair, allowing us to expand the market with competitively priced new products."