Chinas is to lead the healthcare revolution - Pascal s China Lens week 44

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the next 10 years the healthcare industry is  going to have a revolution like never seen   before the next 10 years will be bigger in terms  of change than the last 50. and a lot has to do   with artificial intelligence the advancements  in biotechnology but also since the pandemic   the digital transformation that we all went into  and so the question that i would like to answer in   this week's pascal's china lens is could china  be leading this healthcare revolution globally what i've experienced over the past five  years in china when it comes to health care   has been such a transformation that i can only  imagine how the next five years will look like   and so i believe in the next five to ten years  china is going to lead the global health care   revolution now to explain it i would like to take  you to a personal story this goes back 2014. i had   a pneumonia i was overworked but i had no idea  that i had a pneumonia so i went to the hospital   region hospital in shanghai very close to where  i lived and i went to actually see a doctor so i   had to wait a couple of hours and then i could  see the doctor and what was amazing is that as   soon as i got to see the doctor within a  minute he could tell me i had pneumonia   i said how did he know well he sees so many  patients that he could immediately identify it now   i had to do an x-ray at that point and took about  30 minutes 30 minutes later he had it confirmed   and the verdict was that i would have to stay  for three weeks into an iv room what that means   is that every day for two three hours i had  to have some needle in my in my arm with an iv   and get cured by the medicine that was in there  and i did that for three weeks and this was a   crazy experience because for me this is like 2014.  i saw all these people sick people all in one room  

with all the germs and i was like how can this  be healthy but even my staff at my company when   they felt not very good they didn't feel well they  had what they called ganmao in Chinese a flu they   instantly went into the hospital got an iv into  their arms and after an hour they were cured and   we in the west in belgium at least i would sit at  home for one or two days sit it out sweat it out   and then be cured as well but no in china they  want the quick fixes so this was my experience   but during that time i really observed the  medical staff and i thought this was amazing   because what i saw there i've never seen anywhere  else the speed and efficiency that these nurses   could actually put needles in people's hands never  make a mistake do it very quickly work synchronize   together i mean this was like a factory on  steroids amazing and so from that point on   i got a lot of respect for the medical staff in  china and i always if i had something i always   went to a chinese hospitals i wasn't even thinking  anymore to go to a foreign hospital back home   so this was my personal experience but what's  happened in the last 20 years 30 years in china   has really been transformative so there's a lot  of things in society that change so fast that   the medical industry the healthcare industry  could not follow think about environment think   about substances think about alcohol cigarettes  pollution lifestyle with obesitas lots of problems   that have occurred in china like 10 times bigger  as a problem that it used to be 30 40 years ago   which of course puts a lot of strain on the  hospitals on top of that there's still a lot   of poor people that didn't get insurance before or  couldn't afford these expensive care health care   and the biggest problem of all  is actually the professionals   there's not enough general practitioners  there's not enough doctors in china   there's about one doctor for every six  thousand six hundred people in china   in the west in a country like belgium it's about  one for every thousand or thousand five hundred   people so it's like four or five times less  doctors per amount of population that china has   a huge problem and that's because this medical  industry did not keep up with the pace of the   whole industry the whole population that wanted  more health care and could afford more health care   now on top of that you have the aging population  i made a video two weeks ago about that and there   you could really see that these people are getting  older and of course they need more health care and   medical care they're not living with their family  anymore so big change societal and so that changes   really dictates a new health care need and  this is what i've seen in the past five years   but if you would have gone to a public hospital  five years ago any public hospital in any big   city in china what you see every morning is that  there's like hundreds of people lining up at the   door until the door opens as soon as it opens they  all rush in to be the first to get an appointment   with the doctor at the secretary desk and as soon  as they get an appointment they can see a doctor   and a doctor in a public hospital in china  five years ago was seeing on average 100 to 200   patients per day 200 patients per day imagine that  gives you five minutes five minutes to understand   the problem give a diagnose a prescription and  then it's next next next and i experienced this   a couple of times it's crazy that's why they're  so efficient because they see so many people that   at the same time they don't have a lot of time  so there's no time for this personal connection   on top of that when you go and see a doctor in  a public hospital very often the doors are still   open because it's just too much it takes a minute  to open and close the door every time so look just   keep it open so every time i was telling a story  to a doctor or my wife we always had like three   people in the back cheering in and say don't  worry this is all gonna be fine it's hilarious   but privacy big question mark there so lack of  privacy for sure and if you think about the trust   level then this doctor sees 20 000 patients a year  so if you ask any chinese anywhere in the country   if a machine like ibm watson that based on  millions of data points can actually tell you   with a pretty high accuracy whether you have skin  cancer or not would you trust this machine or   would you trust a doctor that you don't know don't  trust and basically are worried about except if   you get recommended which is still often the case  in china go to that doctor which means that every   chinese is going to the same doctor so some are  overworked and others don't have a lot of work   but in china if you ask that every chinese will  choose for the technology instead of the doctor   that they don't know or don't trust and so  this is a very different thing from the west   where we specifically in belgium where i live  my doctor takes like 30 minutes time to talk   to me they know me they know my family they  know my history they know everything so very   different and that's the cultural difference  and that's why technology in china is really   something that was booming over the past five  years specifically in artificial intelligence   now there's some companies like biomind in china  and biomind is a chinese singaporean corporation   and just two years ago three years ago 2018 they  did a test a competition between the machine and   the people and they said okay let's have a pool  of of doctors surgeons brain tumor surgeons   and this biomind machine that can detect brain  cancer's brain tumors and within half an hour time   these doctors figured out about with a 66 accuracy  the people who had a brain tumor the machine   in just 15 minutes did it with an 87 percent  accuracy so if you tell that story to a chinese   to most of the people they will actually say of  course this machine is more accurate i trust this   machine more than i trust this person and so this  is a very different environment and that's why   technology got embedded so quickly into healthcare  it actually creates more trust now if you look at   the technology in itself artificial intelligence  ai there's no doubt that china is leading   on ai globally i mean there's this technology  race between china and the us but they're really   at the same level companies like e2 but also  companies like baidu like alibaba like tencent i   mean they're putting in all their algorithms which  are top-notch and applied in the medical industry   but then there's also the digital transformation  if you look at that during the pandemic chinese   were using these health qr codes and financial  from alibaba developed it and very quickly it   was deployed everywhere everybody was using us no  questions asked i know it was compulsory for many   but at the same time they had a little problem  with using it look at the application like good   doctor from pinghan the insurance company of  china the biggest one then you see that ping   and good doctor had already before the pandemic in  2019 about 350 million users today we're talking   about more than half a billion chinese using  telemedicine telehealth to consult a doctor and   get diagnosed through their mobile app no problem  everybody's used to it so china is like three   to five years ahead of the west when it comes to  these technologies now when you look at equipment   there's companies like mind ray and united imaging  in china maintenance and shinzon united imaging   shanghai they have great equipment from ultrasound  to pet scanners and everything you could imagine   but they're only 30 years old some of them even 20  years old and so 20 years ago this was really the   low end this was really competition on price then  10 years ago they got started to compete on the   middle end and today they're competing on the high  end but it will take probably another five to ten   years because before these companies will replace  the most expensive machines from ibm ge siemens   johnson johnson or mitronic all these top machines  it probably takes another five to ten years but   they're getting there and today my hospital in  belgium is using mind ring for ultrasounds and   they think this machine is as good as ge so i  think we shouldn't underestimate the power of   technology and equipment coming from china these  days the other thing is biotech and that's a long   story but we don't have time for that here the  reality is that in the pharmaceutical industry   this industry has been very upset with china it's  probably the industry which has been the most   upset with the regulation in china they had  real challenges to get their patents but they   also had problems when it comes to copycats that  weren't uh that the government and the regulators   accepted and they were going for generic drugs  instead of new biotech or new developments   so the foreign companies were really not  treated fairly that's what you always hear   in the pharmaceutical industry and in a way it's  true but the reality is that china chose for   actually helping millions of people rather than  actually helping the industry did they do it right   did they not do it right big question reality  is that is what it is today but for the biotech   specifically the last five years but even 10 years  ago it started there's thousands of scientists   life scientists phds that came back from the west  to work in china now and basically are adding to   the new biotech industry and if you look at the  vaccine from covet 19 i mean they're not so bad i   mean they're doing real great job and there's lots  of examples where the biotech industry in china   is now leveling up with the bioin tech industry  globally and they're pouring billions in so i have   a very good feeling that give it five or ten years  and china is at the same level maybe even leading   now if you talk about healthcare you also have  to talk about tcm traditional chinese medicine   because this is still very important in china and  as we know this is centuries old and and most of   the chinese they actually they like this history  this tradition and when you go to a hospital you   go to a doctor you typically get western medicine  western drugs but you also get the chinese   equivalent the tcm equivalent and this is not just  about old people that want to keep a traditional   life no even young people kids are learning in  school about tcm and keeping the body healthy if   you see now millennials and and even youngsters  generations that they're really going into these   tea houses and getting infusions with tcm uh parts  because they believe that this is all about their   culture it's all about keeping fit keeping healthy  and so this is a new trend of an old tradition   that is coming back as well so this is really  about the current china now the interesting thing   about tcm about traditional chinese medicine is  that they look at the body as one whole everybody   is unique and of course everybody's unique but if  you look at western medicine we don't think that   way we look at averages and we think a drug works  for 99 or 98 for everyone so we give the drug to   100 of the people but you could be different  and so in the western medicine we look at   curing problems based on average and based on what  we've experienced or the results of an experiment   but in china they look at all your factors of your  past they look at your factors of your lifestyle   did you sleep enough that you eat enough that you  drink enough and they look at lots of stuff where   you live pollution whatever and so this is looking  at every individual differently now in the western   medicine when we look at every person uniquely  as one we get into the genomics area and this is   about dna and genes and so this project it started  in 1988 is the biggest project that ever happened   in that area the human genome project took 15  years but after 15 years a lot of countries   helped into the research they found 20 500 genomes  so the whole body of a person was put into a map   so they could detect and figure out the whole  dna structure the whole dna structure of a whole   person of every person individually and so this is  looking again at the person itself at individuals   now the company in china that participated  in that project which was 15 years long   is actually bgi and this company bgi they are now  the biggest genome sequencing company in the world   they started in 2003 once their funding was ended  with the human genome project they had no more   money after the project stopped and so they went  into the commercial by sequencing the gene at that   time it was still millions of dollars to do now  we're talking about hundreds of dollars because   everything evolved they also bought one of the  biggest american companies that has this equipment   which is complete genomics which is a competitor  of illumina the biggest american gene sequencing   equipment manufacturer in the world and so they  now have this capacity as well not only do they   produce the machines they're also doing the  sequencing itself and they have a huge database   of dna now the ceo of this company was actually  called wang jin or jinwon in chinese and wang   jin in 2015 he decided to leave the mothership  although this was one of the most promising and   still is the biggest company in gene sequencing  he said i have to do more for society and so   everybody was wondering why is this guy leaving  this company and the reality is that he thinks   and i can really recommend the tedx that he has  online to explain the whole story it's about 10   minutes so i don't have time for that but the  reality is that he explains that he wants to   make a digital map of every human and so the gene  or genome is the starting point that's really what   makes everybody unique but that changes over  time because we live in a certain environment   we have medical history we have a lifestyle maybe  we have bacteria or viruses or we have all kinds   of omics as he calls it that influences our life  and our future and our health and so what he's   doing is he wants to take all that data and he's  been doing that for the past five years to then   put artificial intelligence to work on it so that  you can actually manage your personal health you   can know exactly how healthy you are and what  you should do could do cannot do to actually   improve or get make it worse for your health  and this is about personal health management   now what i like about wong jing is that this is  typical an example of a scientist an entrepreneur   someone that is like an elon musk it's it's like  a steve jobs it's it's like somebody in the u.s   in silicon valley that came up and has these  moonshot inventions that want to change the world   like the google of healthcare is what he wants  to create or the amazon of healthcare and so   we never see or talk about these people but they  exist in china the reason we don't talk about it   is because they don't look for as much exposure in  the rest of the world as the ellen musks do and so   it's a very different culture but there do exist  and there's lots of them and these are really cool   people now the other thing is the government and  you can't detach health care from the government   anywhere in the world but definitely not in china  and in china there's now the healthy china 2030   plan and that means in the next nine years china  has real targets and so this plan which was built   many years ago is actually putting real targets  for 2030 on life expectancy on infant mentality   child molecular mortality and lots of things  there's a whole list of targets that they want   to reach and so far they've been reaching their  ahead of target sometimes and they're reaching   their target every year which is really impressive  but china has to do this and can only do this   by changing the whole infrastructure but it's also  changing the way people think about health care   and that's the other thing that is so strong in  china which takes much longer in the rest of the   world they have put health care into all the  policies in china and that means anything you   want to do whether it's about the environment or  about education or about the economy whatever you   think about you have to have health care somewhere  in there just like sustainability these are two   two topics which is always have to be in every  industry and everything that china is doing   and so this goes top down and that means every  local government understands they have to build   clinics they have to invest in biotech they  have to invest in automation and new hospitals   and so on the second thing is my health under  my control and this is like wangjin first you   need to know how to control it but this is also  about telling people telling 1.4 billion people   how to take more care and better care of their  health and that means exercise it means eat   more healthy but it's also things like use  tcm awareness it's about this digital apps   it's about medicine that is available so there's  a lot of information flowing to the people   to improve their health and the third thing is  china sees health and health care as a growth of   the economy it's like an engine and motor for the  economy while we in the west often see healthcare   still as a cost center in china they're starting  to see it as an opportunity a way to make money   and this is because tourism couldn't prove  health tourism it could improve in tcm that   gets sold maybe also globally there's a lot of  things like exercising this could all make money   because there's new industries popping up and so  having these targets having this mindset change   having a blueprint and helping people to elevate  out of their health care crisis sometimes is   really what the government is taking care of and  this is quite unique and that's why i think this   revolution is really happening but it also has  something to do with the infrastructure china   is really great at building infrastructure  i mean the best at building infrastructure   they've done it for the high-speed trains they've  done it for 5g they do it for electrical vehicles   we've talked about that in previous videos  but now you see this in healthcare as well   every hospital is getting automated they're buying  the most expensive material or equipment from   abroad from ge from philips from siemens  from anybody but also their mind ray and   united imaging everything's getting automated  and what that means is that these hospitals   these clinics can now elevate these nurses and  these doctors to do better or more work that   they otherwise could not do because they don't  have the skills for it these robots can do it   the second thing is research and china is putting  everything on research specifically biotech they   want to become the biotech leader in the world and  they're really doing a good job in that direction   but it's the billions of dollars they're putting  in it and also helping the education to focus on   that industry and that is going to change a lot  but for me the thing that is really changing china   when it comes to healthcare is this accessibility  of digital healthcare it's telehealth it's remote   healthcare it's doing everything and thanks to 5g  that's now possible to do remote surgery but also   just with a mobile app you can have a consultation  with good doctor there's no problems anymore   and so this is a complete change where in the west  we only see this happening now post-pandemic and   in china it's happened for the past five years and  this is exploding now now the last thing is about   private many many companies are offering private  solutions for customers for citizens in the   healthcare industry and that is because the middle  class got richer and so they can pay more they   can afford more and so you see almost these hotel  hospitals or clinics where you get treated like a   vip and this is another level this is not for the  general public now the general public now 98 has   basic universal health care insurance but there's  still people that say i want better treatment   and then they can afford it and this is a booming  industries also in the retirement homes so we see   a lot of things happening so the infrastructure in  the next five years will be so impressive that we   won't be able to recognize it anymore now i think  we should stop looking down on china when it comes   to healthcare and of course there's a big problem  on healthcare just because there's 1.4 billion   people lifestyles have changed and the hospitals  could not follow the doctors were not enough so   big crisis and they need reforms and there's been  a lot of corruption but let's not look down on it   anymore because i think china is reiterating and  completely thinking differently about the health   care of the future now and you see it happening in  real life now if you compare to america i mean in   america it's of course they're the number one  in terms of health care north america i mean   great doctors great equipment great hospitals  the problem is it's not accessible to everyone   only if you have money many people cannot afford  it or cannot actually i don't have the insurance   to get this good these good treatments and so  in my view you can't call this a revolution   healthcare revolution in north america if it's not  for everyone but that's just my personal opinion   now in europe where i live in belgium pretty  much healthcare is available for everyone and   it's very inexpensive the government is paying  back most of it so it's really very accessible   the problem in europe is regulation and mindset a  law gets regulated meaning that new technologies   like digital and ai it takes time before it gets  implemented and it's a very traditional industry   on top of that people are a little bit afraid to  take that next step they still prefer to talk to   a doctor person to person they don't trust that  machine as much and so that just slows down this   whole process so i think china just takes the best  of both worlds it's really accessible to everyone   and it's also something that gets quickly  implemented for the whole population   and it's top notch and getting better and  better so give it five or ten years i think   i predict china is going to lead the revolution in  health care so i talked about a lot of aspects in the healthcare but there's still a lot more to talk about and i didn't go in depth in each of these industry biotech ai i mean there's stories  on itself but i hope it gives you a general idea do subscribe if you haven't done so  so you can follow my other videos on china's innovation i hope you liked it and see you next  week for another episode on Pascal's China lens

2021-06-01

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