Wellness club offers high-quality services

A billboard for Ikang Guobin Healthcare Group in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. Provided to China Daily

The center also targets customers with higher incomes who care about their health and long for privileged health services including body examinations and health management.

Tom Fox, vice-president of Harvard Medical School in the US, was invited to be the director, which will facilitate medical doctors from the world's famous medical school to provide regular consultation sessions at the center.

"Our outlet will help Chinese customers to seek more advanced medical care services in the US, for example at Harvard Medical School, with help from us," Zhang said.

Domestic and foreign funding has begun to pour into private healthcare companies in China as well, said Wu Ming, assistant director of Peking University's Health Science Center.

The nation's top three private healthcare providers, Ikang Guobin Healthcare Group, Ciming Health Checkup Management Group and Meinian Onehealth Healthcare (Group) Co, have all attracted significant investment in recent years.

"Such private providers focus more on the market of upscale healthcare services," Wu said.

"But the rising presence of competitors from overseas might pose a serious challenge for them."

At the government level, more measures are expected to be taken to boost this health service sector, which improve people's well-being and shore up growth, said the guideline issued by the State Council last year.

The health service industry covers medical services, health management, health insurance and other supporting sectors related to pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, healthcare facilities and healthcare food.

New measures to increase private capital in the sector will include relaxing market admittance requirements for investment from non-governmental sources and giving equal treatment to not-for-profit private medical institutions and public medical establishments.

The government will also simplify approval procedures for rehabilitation centers, hospitals for children and elderly patients and nursing homes, it said.