05-Jun-15 China will allow patients to claim medical insurance for visits to private hospitals, its main administrative authority said, marking the latest move from Beijing to ease pressure on the country's over-burdened public healthcare system. [image: Reuters]

05-Jun-15 The Indonesian Ministry of Health says that the country must focus on obtaining international accreditation for its hospitals to ensure service quality and patient safety. Of the 2,400 hospitals in Indonesia, only 121 (5%) are internationally accredited. By improving the quality of health services, it is expected that fewer people will go overseas for treatment. [image: BioSpectrum]

04-May-15 Thonburi Hospital Group (THG), Thailand's third-largest private hospital group, plans to invest up to THB10 bn (USD297 mn) this year acquiring six hospitals, says Dr Boon Banasin, the owner of the group. He said THG, which has a network of 22 hospitals in Thailand and abroad with 3,000 beds, aims to buy hospitals in Thailand and in China. [image: Octafinance]

03-Jun-15 Brazil's ambitious community-based, primary care approach, the Family Health Strategy, was launched in 1994. A study by UCLA finds that the approach is working. It is cost-effective and has led to reductions in infant mortality, hospitalizations due to chronic conditions, and deaths from stroke and heart disease. [image: UCLA Newsroom].

03-Jun-15 A smart health monitoring and alert system will be piloted in Singapore as part of its Infocomm Media Masterplan. Medical monitoring devices will be placed in the homes of chronic disease patients, and readings beamed directly to the clinics they frequent via wireless networks. If there are anomalies, the patient will be asked to go for a check-up. [image: Center for Technology and Aging]