Health, not wealth, is main driver

In China, a patient usually undergoes surgery first. Radiotherapy is often regarded as the last life-saving straw for a seriously ill patient.

"We want to improve conditions and provide multidisciplinary treatment solutions and advanced technology for cancer patients," said Yang. In addition, low-side-effect therapy equipment developed by MD Anderson Cancer Center based in Houston, Texas, will be introduced, which costs 400 million to 500 million yuan for each unit.

Yang said the Chinese middle class has strong demand for healthcare and a growing purchasing power. In 2012, about 90 Chinese patients went to MD Anderson in the US to see doctors.

Looking abroad for healthcare

Asia's bitter pill to swallow in hospital services

The registration and treatment fees of Chinese public hospitals are considered to be low. Prescribing medicine is the main way for them to earn money.

Yang said Chinese middle class people target their hospitals. Instead of gaining revenue from expensive medicines, they charge higher registration and treatment fees and provide good-quality services and technology.

Concord Medical Services and its cooperating hospitals have treated around 100,000 patients in recent years. The company said so long as 3 to 5 percent of those patients come to the three Concord Medical Services hospitals, the private medical services can be fully operational.

So far, there are few private hospitals run well in China. Those that are include Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital, United Family Healthcare and Amcare Women's and Children's Hospital.

But their pace of expansion is slow because of strict registration procedures and a shortage of talented staff and brand cultivation.

Xiao Feng, a managing director at The Carlyle Group responsible for investment in Concord Medical Services, said: "China has many large medicine and medical equipment companies with high sales, but medical services are few, which provides a big opportunity." He added the revenue from medical services is likely to increase substantially after the new hospitals are ready.

Concord Medical Services forecast its net revenue in 2013 was between 930 million and 975 million yuan, representing a 40 percent to 47 percent increase from 2012.

Chen Yiyou, CEO of Percans Oncology and former chief scientist at Crown Bioscience, said prospects look good for developing cancer treatment hospitals in China because of the large and increasing demand.

"Sources of patients and traffic can be two important factors for the success of a cancer treatment hospital," said Chen, explaining that patients prefer public hospitals or well-known doctors and convenience.