China seeks rapid medical sector growth before 2020

BEIJING -- China will pursue rapid growth in the medical sector until 2020, while enhancing the sector's ability to innovate and raising its product quality, according to a plan unveiled Monday.

The sector's main business revenue should maintain medium-high annual growth of more than 10 percent, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on its website.

In 2011-2015, the main business revenue in the sector registered annual growth of 17.4 percent and annual profit expanded 14.5 percent, both much higher than the 7.8 percent annual GDP growth during the same period.

Companies should continue increasing investment in research and development to account for more than 2 percent of their combined revenue by 2020, the plan said.

The country will build medicine and medical instrument manufacturing innovation centers with investment from both the government and private sectors.

It will also improve services for small innovative companies, including platforms serving startup incubators, open laboratories and centers for commercializing research findings, according to the plan.

By 2020, the quality of medicine and medical instruments should follow higher standards, while the sector's energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and water use should all drop below 2015 levels.