Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

On low-key debuts, privately operated hospitals are introducing membership schemes to attract economically successful patients, according to today's Shanghai Morning Post.
Paying a yearly club fee varying from 3,000 yuan (US$371) to nearly 60,000 yuan, the members can enjoy discounts on medical bills as well as free medical checks and customized services.
The fees range between 3,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan at a newly opened hospital on Hongqiao Road, while surging to 58,888 yuan at a male patient-exclusive hospital on Lujiabang Road, the Shanghai Morning Post said. The Shanghai-based newspaper doesn't specify the names of the hospitals, however.
The latter institution, not yet opened, is targeted at high-income patients, the hospital's general manager said as quoted in the report on the condition of anonymity.
So far, the club scheme seems successful, having attracted some tens of members, mostly entrepreneurs or white-collar workers, he disclosed.
A female-exclusive hospital on Chang'an Road is also offering such membership. The fees are lower because, most females earn less than their male counterparts, the president said as cited by Shanghai Morning Post.
Part of the customized services, members can give a phone call to discuss their health problems, he said.
Despite their confidence as shown on the membership schemes, hospitals prefer to open the new service first to existing patients than make public promotions, in the hope that the hefty membership fees won't deter ordinary patients.
Industry insiders seem cautious about the market outlook, regarding the schemes as simply a sales method of the hospitals.
"Regardless of sales methods, good medical technologies and convenient services are most essential to their business successes," Zhou Pu pointed out. Zhou is Office Dean of International Medicare Center of Shanghai No. 1 People's Hospital.