The new Shanghai Ruidong Hospital, recently bought out by a Taiwanese company headed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweight Hsu Li-teh (徐立德), was inaugurated on Thursday as an institution providing upscale medical care mainly to China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and their families.
The hospital, formerly the Pudong branch of the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, an affiliate of the Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, is the first Taiwanese-financed hospital in the Shanghai area to obtain a business license from Chinese authorities.
Addressing the opening, Hsu, who served as Taiwan’s vice premier between 1993 and 1997, said the hospital was an “invaluable product” of cross-strait collaboration and peaceful exchanges.
“I expect this hospital will not only provide sound medical services to Taiwanese people living in China, it will also kick start a new mode of cooperation between medical sectors across the [Taiwan] Strait,” Hsu said.
He said Taipei-based Global Investment Holdings (GIH), for which he serves as chairman, spent about NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) to acquire a 55 percent share in the hospital.
“No KMT funds were used in the investment,” Hsu said, dismissing speculation that he might be the KMT’s figurehead in the joint venture.
Hsu said that GIH received approval for the investment from the then-Democratic Progressive Party administration three years ago.
Hsu said that he hoped that in the future Taiwanese living in China would be able to use Republic of China national insurance cards at Taiwanese-financed hospitals in the country, such as the Shanghai Ruidong Hospital.
Source: Taipei Times 2009/11/28
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