Chen Bang, Chairman of Aier Eye Hospital: Live and let live—promoting the development of eye health business

From February 24 to 26, 2017, the first annual meeting of the Ophthalmic Committee of the Chinese Non-government Medical Institutions Association (hereinafter, "CNMIA Ophthalmic Committee") hosted by the CNMIA Ophthalmic Committee and Aier Eye Hospital Group, as well as the 1st National Conference on Clinical Ophthalmology, was held in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Senior Professor Zhao Jialiang (chief committee member) of the CNMIA Ophthalmic Committee said that under China's national initiatives, non-public medical institutions have been able to achieve great development and have become an important driving force in the healthcare industry. Under the medical reform initiatives throughout China, the phenomenon of "supplementing medical practice with medicine" has been replaced by the policy of "serving at more than one hospital" in recent years. The healthcare reform policy that advances medical care with social capital is now opening up new opportunities for the development of non-public medical institutions.

According to the survey data, there were 220,000 non-public medical institutions in China until 2015, accounting for 53% of the total number of hospitals in the entire nation. The number of beds in sickrooms was 1 million, and the number of patients undergoing medical interview was slightly less than 400 million. In addition, as the number of public medical institution doctors working part-time at non-public medical institutions has increased, public medical institutions have started to venture into management and setup of non-public medical institutions, leading to a trend toward the constructive fusion of non-public and public medical institutions. The CNMIA Ophthalmic Committee was established in March 2016.

Aier Eye Hospital Becomes Largest Non-Public Ophthalmology Clinic

At the Aier Eye Hospital Group, more than 20 million patients have been treated over the past 10 years since its foundation. More than 1.35 million patients underwent cataract operation, and 1,600 patients underwent corneal transplant operation to recover their eyesight. Currently, the Aier Eye Hospital Group has 150 private practitioners under its umbrella and covers 28 provinces nationwide (municipalities, autonomous regions, and special zones). About 3,000 ophthalmologists belong to the group, and there are many doctoral advisors, master's advisors, doctors, visiting scholars in Europe and the United States, and specialists with extensive clinical experience.

Chen Bang, Chairman of the Aier Eye Hospital Group, said, "The treasure with which we will continue to make progress and lead in this industry is as follows: Scale advantage of the chain management of Aier Eye Hospital; advantages in scientific research through the integration of industry-academia research; advantage of partner-style human resources; fostering of ophthalmology human resources through the establishment of the global fund for incubation and investment in ophthalmological science and technology; and the principle that everyone, rich or poor, has the right to maintain their healthy eyes. In the CNMIA Ophthalmic Committee, Aier Eye Hospital will work together to contribute to the healthy development of non-public ophthalmology institutions in China, and we will also endeavor to bring back the light to more patients with visual impairment."