Mental Health Care: China's Next Big Market
Guan Weili
Guan Weili  the 47-year-old founder   didnât start out with grand ambitions.  He  simply was struck by the paucity of treatment when working as a clinician at Wenzhou Mental Hospital   his  first job on graduation in 1987.
Trained in general practice at Wenzhou Medical University   Guan  was assigned arbitrarily to work at a mental hospital. Psychiatry hasn't been a popular area of specialization in China  but the career suited  him  well. The hospital was near  his  home  and  he  met  his  wife  Wang Lianyue  a nurse working in the same unit. Today she is his top lieutenant as the company's executive director and general manager. Together they own a third of Kangning.
Sensing both need and opportunity   Guan  started  his  own hospital in 1996  initially with 20 beds  encouraged by a local government with a reputation for fostering the freest brand of capitalism in China. Soon  he  bought land in then suburban Wenzhou for future growth.  His  wife joined two years later  when an expanded hospital was built.
Later the city of Wenzhou's freewheeling underground banking network would help  him  cover cash-flow needs  though at usurious rates.  He  had no choice. Chinese law bars hospitals from pledging their facilities as collateral for bank loans.
No matter how desirable the room services  the ultimate goal is to reduce  not prolong  the stay. Thanks to enhanced efficacy of treatment   Guan  says  his  patients now each spend on average 47 days in hospital  compared with the Chinese industry's 60 days and as long as 90 days just a decade ago. "With better medications and therapies come better results and shorter therapy sessions "  he  says.
Still  mental patients need longer and more intensive care than most physical hospitalizations. Even one with mild syndromes might stay one or two weeks   he  adds. That calls for more beds. On average  for every 100 outpatient visits a day  400-bed capacity is needed  according to  Guan --the reverse of the standard hospital formula. Wenzhou Kangning now averages 150 at its owned units.
Private psychiatric care in China grew at a compounded 20% annually to 2014  largely to treat common disorders like anxiety  depression  substance abuse and psychosis. Among the key hubs is Guangzhou  a megacity of 13 million where  Xinhua News reported  68 out of every 100 citizens suffer insomnia. Elsewhere  large corporate employers such as Foxconn offer 24-hour hotlines and suicide prevention counsel.  Guan  sees the upsurge as a by-product of the nation's fast economic growth  likening it to Japan's experience at a similar stage of development.
Specialized mental hospitals have been around since the Chinese revolution in 1949  many drawing on care houses left behind by Christian missionaries. A drawn-out reform process began only 15 years ago   Guan  says.
[TGT]  start out with grand ambitions.   [TGT]   simply was struck by the paucity of treatment when working as a clinician at Wenzhou Mental Hospital    [TGT]   first job on graduation in 1987.
Trained in general practice at Wenzhou Medical University   Guan  was assigned arbitrarily to work at a mental hospital. Psychiatry hasn't been a popular area of specialization in China  but the career suited  him  well. The hospital was near  his  home  and  he  met  his  wife  Wang Lianyue  a nurse working in the same unit. Today she is his top lieutenant as the company's executive director and general manager. Together they own a third of Kangning.
Sensing both need and opportunity   Guan  started  his  own hospital in 1996  initially with 20 beds  encouraged by a local government with a reputation for fostering the freest brand of capitalism in China. Soon  he  bought land in then suburban Wenzhou for future growth.  His  wife joined two years later  when an expanded hospital was built.
Later the city of Wenzhou's freewheeling underground banking network would help  him  cover cash-flow needs  though at usurious rates.  He  had no choice. Chinese law bars hospitals from pledging their facilities as collateral for bank loans.
No matter how desirable the room services  the ultimate goal is to reduce  not prolong  the stay. Thanks to enhanced efficacy of treatment   Guan  says  his  patients now each spend on average 47 days in hospital  compared with the Chinese industry's 60 days and as long as 90 days just a decade ago. "With better medications and therapies come better results and shorter therapy sessions "  he  says.
Still  mental patients need longer and more intensive care than most physical hospitalizations. Even one with mild syndromes might stay one or two weeks   he  adds. That calls for more beds. On average  for every 100 outpatient visits a day  400-bed capacity is needed  according to  Guan --the reverse of the standard hospital formula. Wenzhou Kangning now averages 150 at its owned units.
Private psychiatric care in China grew at a compounded 20% annually to 2014  largely to treat common disorders like anxiety  depression  substance abuse and psychosis. Among the key hubs is Guangzhou  a megacity of 13 million where  Xinhua News reported  68 out of every 100 citizens suffer insomnia. Elsewhere  large corporate employers such as Foxconn offer 24-hour hotlines and suicide prevention counsel.  Guan  sees the upsurge as a by-product of the nation's fast economic growth  likening it to Japan's experience at a similar stage of development.
Specialized mental hospitals have been around since the Chinese revolution in 1949  many drawing on care houses left behind by Christian missionaries. A drawn-out reform process began only 15 years ago   Guan  says.