China's Medical Boom

Tourist Jack Golden remembers a recent trip to China for all the wrong reasons. Golden, of Lenox, Mass., had a prostate condition that required medical treatment during a Yangtze River cruise. He had to endure an invasive procedure without anesthesia at a small, gritty hospital in Fengdu, an ancient city on the river's north bank. And that was the easy part. "The Chinese accept it because this is what they have," he says. Acquiescence to substandard health care is changing in China, especially where rapid economic progress has improved the financial well-being of the country's growing zhong chan jie ji, or middle class. More and more Chinese are willing to pay for superior health-care services. Their presence, combined with an increased number of expatriates and business travelers, has created a niche opportunity for foreign... [read full story]