Mobile healthcare holds great promise for the world's most populous country. By 2017, China, which is home to more than 1.3 billion people, is predicted to be the second largest mHealth market after the United States. In fact, China's middle class is already larger than the entire U.S. population.
"mHealth has a particularly strong potential in China to address the country's rapidly aging population," according to an article taken from a monthly magazine published by the China-Britain Business Council. "...With its unique market characteristics and rapidly developing healthcare system, the country is facing particular challenges to provide basic primary healthcare equitably and universally, whilst also providing quality, medically advanced and patient-centric clinical care for those who are able and willing to pay for premium services."
Currently, the article reports, pilots of mHealth services are underway or have been completed in a number of Chinese provinces, delivering both real benefits to consumers and potentially attractive returns to investors. The article concludes that "innovative yet practical mobile health solutions could potentially fill many healthcare gaps in China, where consumers are willing to pay out of pocket for services from both public and private medical service providers." Article