There was a groundbreaking ceremony for the Shanghai Raffles Hospital, a Sino-foreign joint venture, in the Qiantan business area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, in Shanghai's Pudong New District, on Nov 18, Pudong Times has reported.

The hospital's backers are Singapore's Raffles Medical Group and the Shanghai Lujiazui Group, who say they want to build a first-class international hospital and bring local people and foreigners top medical services, with the executive chairman of the Raffles Group, Loo Choon Yong, saying that they will put 800 million yuan ($125.3 million) into the new hospital.

It is expected to have a total floor area of 40,000 square meters and a bed capacity of 400 with the most advanced medical technology and facilities and will focus mostly on oncology, gynecology and obstetrics, cardiology and orthopedics. Loo said that its environment is also very important so there will be parks and landscaping because they believed in “green treatment”.

Loo said that construction work is expected to be completed in 2018 so that it can go operational by the end of 2018, with 70 percent of its doctors from Singapore, the United States, UK, Australia and Europe. It will also be important for nurturing Chinese medical staff and there are plans to look for young Chinese medical personnel, then send them to Singapore for further training to improve their skills.

The Raffles Medical Group is Singapore's largest private healthcare provider, with integrated healthcare services and plans now to enter China's medical market and to put hospitals in seven cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenzhen.