Ping An Good Doctor to expand medical services platform in Southeast Asia this year -SCMP
What happened: Chinese online healthcare platform Ping An Good Doctor aims to expand its business in Southeast Asia as demand from the region and mainlanders’ medical tourism grow. The company announced last Tuesday that they will form a venture with the ride-hailing platform Grab, allowing Ping An to provide medical services in the region.
Why it’s important: According to Ctrip, China’s online tourism agency, more than 500,000 outbound medical trips happened in 2016, five times the number in 2015 and the average spending was RMB 50,000, 10 times the cost for the usual individual overseas trips. Wang Tao, chairman of Ping An Good Doctor, said they expected to start providing services in at least one country and Thailand will be their first choice due to low casts and high-quality medical services of private medical centers.