Doctor with a cure

A Hong Kong born doctor who spent much of his professional life in the United Kingdom thinks a new approach to medical care could be the answer to China's fraught hospital system. Sun Ye reports.

In a bright, spacious clinic in northeast Beijing, Dr Gilbert Shia takes time to demonstrate on mannequins the way to self-examine one's breasts - feel for lumps from the top down. He is so thorough when explaining illnesses over the phone, that when anxious mothers hang up, they're soothed, even without getting a prescription of pills.

"The clinic is my sample room that proves that the style of family doctors in the United Kingdom suits this country, too," says Shia, director of Medicgo, the international medical center that has its doctors as "goal-keepers", who assess a patient's condition, answer their doubts and questions, monitor their health and form a long-standing partnership for better health.