Perennial General Hospital Tianjin, China's First Wholly Foreign-Owned Private Tertiary General Hospital Will Soon Commence Operations

SINGAPORE, Dec. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Perennial Holdings Private Limited ("Perennial Holdings") is pleased to announce that Perennial General Hospital in Tianjin city ("Perennial General Hospital Tianjin"), China, has become the country's first wholly foreign-owned private tertiary general hospital after it successfully passed the city's Municipal Health Commission's stringent hospital inspection and obtained its Medical Institution Practice Licence. The 500-bed tertiary multi-disciplined hospital, developed and equipped at a total investment cost of RMB1 billion, is expected to commence operations soon.

In September 2024, China's government announced that fully foreign-owned hospitals will be allowed to operate in several key cities, including Beijing and Tianjin. Perennial Holdings, who already has an established presence in the country's medical care and eldercare space, immediately took swift action to align its overall healthcare business strategy with the government's policy to open up its healthcare sector.

Located in Xiqing District, Perennial General Hospital Tianjin forms part of the medical care component within Perennial Tianjin South High-Speed Railway ("HSR") International Healthcare and Business City ("PIHBC Tianjin"), which is adjacent to the Tianjin South HSR Station. PIHBC Tianjin is China's first-of-its-kind large-scale HSR transit-oriented development ("TOD") integrating eldercare, medical care and hospitality components. PIHBC Tianjin also comprises the Perennial Eldercare Community with over 1,800-beds and four hotels of different star ratings totalling about 1,000 rooms.

Perennial General Hospital Tianjin (within PIHBC’s Medical Cluster) (Day Shot)

Perennial Holdings is the developer, owner, operator and manager of Perennial General Hospital Tianjin. Designed by an award-winning global architectural design firm and built in strict compliance with national standards, Perennial General Hospital Tianjin features a unique asset-light co-medical space concept for doctors and medical groups, where they focus solely on providing medical consultations and treatments without investing in medical facilities and services.

Perennial General Hospital Tianjin - Single-bed Room

Doctors and medical groups can instead rely on the shared medical facilities and services ("Shared Medical Platform") provided and managed by Perennial Holdings, including advanced operating theatres, cutting-edge diagnostic imaging equipment and an extensive clinical laboratory. The introduction of Singapore's Shared Medical Platform concept at Perennial General Hospital Tianjin offers convenience and cost efficiency to doctors and medical groups, allowing them to grow and scale their practices.

Perennial General Hospital Tianjin - Operating Theatre

Perennial General Hospital Tianjin will establish a highly qualified specialist medical team to offer a comprehensive suite of medical disciplines, including orthopedics, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, nephrology and immunology, cardiology, oncology and other fields. Its International Clinic will offer individualised medical care, including health maintenance and chronic disease management. To date, collaborations have been established with renowned doctors and medical groups.

The 500-bed Perennial General Hospital Tianjin, a tertiary general hospital, is an integral part of PIHBC Tianjin's hospital ecosystem, together with the 200-bed Perennial Rehabilitation Hospital Tianjin, a secondary rehabilitation hospital, the 300-bed Eber Perennial Brain Hospital Tianjin, a tertiary brain hospital, and the 300-bed Perennial Nursing Hospital Tianjin. Perennial General Hospital Tianjin also strengthens our care and support for the 1,800 seniors living in the Perennial Eldercare Community within our precinct, in conjunction with the rehabilitation hospital and nursing hospital. With a total portfolio of 1,300 hospital beds and diverse specialisations, PIHBC Tianjin is well-positioned to provide multi-faceted and holistic care to the community within the Xiqing District and the wider Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region via the adjacent Tianjin South HSR Station's subway and HSR networks.

Mr Pua Seck Guan, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Perennial Holdings, said, "We are excited to develop, own and operate China's first wholly foreign-owned private tertiary general hospital, Perennial General Hospital Tianjin, following China's recent move to open up its healthcare sector. This being the first general hospital built and managed by Perennial Holdings further adds to the significance of this milestone."

Mr Pua added, "Our unique asset-light co-medical space concept for doctors and medical groups with different partnership models, allows us to embrace many medical professionals and build an extensive and sustainable ecosystem to further the growth of our healthcare business in China. The Singapore-modelled Shared Medical Platform also supports them to expand and scale alongside us with minimal capital investments."

Commenting on the opening of China's healthcare market, Mr Pua remarked, "We highly commend China's open-door foreign investment policy on healthcare, which is not widely adopted by countries around the world. This forward-looking policy sends a strong positive signal to the international investment community, boosts confidence for investors keen on China's healthcare space and drives foreign investments and foreign-local collaborations given the growth prospects of China. The policy also further strengthens our commitment to our long-term strategy to build, own and operate more hospitals within our pipeline of integrated healthcare projects or healthcare-centric TODs."

Mr Pua further added, "Perennial General Hospital Tianjin will pave the way to draw more foreign patients seeking private medical treatments in Tianjin, thereby raising the country's medical industry's international standing and driving the growth of Tianjin's medical tourism industry. Further, Tianjin Government's all-rounded and highly efficient support across ministries throughout the rigorous approval process provides foreign companies with first-class service which is extremely conducive for businesses. We are confident of China's medical care market's growth trajectory and will actively foster foreign-local hospital collaboration and knowledge exchange as well as bring in foreign medical professionals and expertise to elevate the standards of private medical care to complement the government's public healthcare to benefit the community."

Perennial Holdings' portfolio of hospitals in China is growing steadily. Beyond the four hospitals totaling 1,300 beds in PIHBC Tianjin, there is a pipeline of over 3,000 beds being developed in the group's upcoming healthcare-centric developments in Kunming, Xi'an and Guangzhou.