Apr. 9 – China’s latest move to reform its health care system could provide business opportunities for technology companies, health-services providers, insurers and pharmaceutical companies looking to expand its market despite the global slowdown.

China has announced it would spend RMB850 billion (US$124 billion) on the three year plan. The goal is to have a medical clinic at every village and a hospital at every county by 2011. State subsidies for insurance premiums will also extend basic coverage to 90 percent of China’s population.

The U.S. software company, IBM, told China Daily that the healthcare system overhaul would generate at least US$1.5 billion in new spending for software.

The vice-president of IBM’s China Development Lab, Matt Wang, added that at least 1,000 Chinese hospitals would invest at least US$1.5 million dollars each on software and related services in the coming years.

“The government’s involvement in health care sector reform creates huge market opportunities because it makes possible a nationwide and unified network that connects together the highly scattered Chinese hospitals,” he said during an interview.

The reform plan includes establishing IT networks for electronic records of patients and a medical record system that could be accessed by hospitals.

The assistant president of Peking University People’s Hospital, Liu Fan, said that his hospital, one of the biggest in China, will spend an estimated RMB10 million annually on information technology facilities and other related services.

The plan’s RMB331.8 billion budget will be funded by the central government while the rest of the amount will come from local governments.