MK sports Korea Perennial General Hospital Tianjin, China's first wholly foreign-owned, third-grade general hospital, commences operations on February 26, 2025. Photo: Chu Daye/GT" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-02-26/fad72e5f-256b-4ce6-96ab-978fa8ffde8b.jpeg" />

The Perennial General Hospital Tianjin, China's first wholly foreign-owned, third-grade general hospital, commences operations on February 26, 2025. Photo: Chu Daye/GT

The Perennial General Hospital Tianjin, China's first wholly foreign-owned, third-grade general hospital, commenced operations in North China's Tianjin Municipality on Wednesday, as the country pushes forward its plan to open up its medical sector to foreign investors.

The hospital, a tertiary general hospital with 500 beds, was built with investment by Singapore Perennial Holdings and is located in Tianjin's Xiqing district.

The hospital aims to take advantage of the convenient location of the Tianjin South Railway Station, a key stop of the 1,318-kilometer-long Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway, to extend its service scope to include patients from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, according to the company.

"The launch of the hospital as China's first wholly foreign-owned hospital is of great significance, showcasing the Chinese government's commitment to opening up its medical sector to global investors, dispelling doubts and concerns," Pua Seck Guan, executive chairman and CEO of Perennial Holdings, told the Global Times at the opening ceremony. "We plan to copy/paste the model from Tianjin to a number of Chinese cities including Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province."

The hospital will serve the 100 million people living in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, and we plan to bring some foreign patients to our hospital to tap China's unique medical strengths such as traditional Chinese medicine, Pua said. "Judging from the experiences of developed countries, the potential of China's medical and healthcare market is great. We believe this is just the beginning."

Perennial Holdings said the multi-disciplinary hospital was developed and equipped at a total cost of 1 billion yuan ($138 million).

The new hospital features specialized departments such as orthopedics, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology and nephrology, in addition to an international division.

In China's three-tier hospital grading system, the third-grade hospitals represent the highest level.

The official launch of the Singapore-invested hospital follows moves by other localities to introduce foreign hospitals amid policy support from the Chinese central government.

The city of Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province will introduce two wholly foreign-owned top-tier hospitals in its drive to prioritize healthcare development and deepen high-quality medical cooperation, according to domestic financial news portal 21jingji.com.

In December, the Shenzhen municipal government announced a deal with Singapore's Luye Medical Group on the setting up of a wholly foreign-owned specialty hospital in the city, also a first in China.

Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the trend indicated foreign investors' confidence in China as projects such as hospitals are long-term investments that offer no quick gains.

In November, China' National Health Commission and three other government departments issued a pilot work plan to grant approval for wholly foreign-owned hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as the island province of Hainan.

The China Research Center on Aging predicts that the silver economy, which includes tourism, food, eldercare, healthcare devices and financial services, could grow from its 2023 value of 12 trillion yuan to 30 trillion yuan by 2035, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

China has allowed the establishment of joint-venture medical institutions with foreign investors since 2000 and currently has more than 60 foreign-invested joint-venture medical institutions, according to Xinhua.