F042 Digital health in Asia 2/5: What drives the incredible pace of development in China? (Julie Wang)
China’s population is larger than the population of the US and Europe combined. The country is becoming the leader in AI development. The enabling factor for China’s rapid advancement in AI is that Chinese Tech giants and government agencies are investing heavily the most important fuel for AI development – data infrastructures. In healthcare, for example, the company Yitu has a team of about 400 doctors, most of whom work part-time for about 10 hours a week to help label data. One-fifth of the healthcare team’s full-time employees have a medical background.
Asian countries were lagging behind in digitization in the past, which enabled them to leapfrog development with mobile phones. The consumers here use Tencent’s WeChat for shopping, paying bills and more. Understandably, Tencent’s new strides into healthcare are highly anticipated. According to Technode, Tencent is testing real-time clinic services in its WeChat wallet, and as reported by mobihealthnews, Tencent Trusted Doctor is among a number of technology-driven firms looking to shake up China’s overburdened public healthcare market.
According to Phillips Future Health Index 2019 China is an outlier in terms of healthcare professionals encouraging their patients to track healthcare data.
Julie Wang talks about Chinese culture, entrepreneurship, and values driving digital health in China.
Also listen to: How advanced is China in digital health?
