Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    THE C-Mer (Shenzhen) Dennis Lam Eye Hospital, the first Hong Kong-funded hospital on the mainland, opened in Shenzhen on Thursday.

    Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin attended the opening ceremony.

    The 160-million-yuan (US$25 million) hospital in Chegongmiao in Futian District will receive patients Monday.

    Patients have to make appointments before coming to the hospital. Hospital founder Dennis Lam said the facility has 30 beds and five surgery rooms. Treatment fees range from 150 to 1,000 yuan, about 30 percent cheaper than fees in Hong Kong but about 50 percent more expensive than public hospital fees in Shenzhen.

    Lam formerly served as dean and a professor in the ophthalmology and visual sciences department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for 13 years. He is now the director of a national ophthalmology laboratory at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and the honorary president of the university’s ophthalmology hospital.

    He will be at the hospital to see patients every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

    The hospital has 10 doctors and that number is expected to reach 20 by the end of this year.

    Cataract surgery costs about 8,000 yuan at a 3A hospital in Shenzhen. At Lam’s hospital, it costs about 10,000 yuan for a mainland doctor, 15,000 yuan for a Hong Kong or overseas doctor, and 20,000 yuan to have the surgery conducted by Lam.

    The hospital will help patients access Hong Kong hospitals if they need special drugs that can’t be found in Shenzhen. It will also become an international base for scientific research and professional training.

    Guangdong Province’s health department has issued 19 licenses for Hong Kong doctors under CEPA provision between the mainland and Hong Kong.

    They are mainly in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shunde.

    As a former member of a consultant team for the development of Shenzhen in the early 1980s, Leung said he was glad to witness the significant landmark of the hospital’s opening.

    “This is a big step for the cooperation of Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the medical industry and in exchanges of professionals,” Leung said.

    Three Hong Kong-owned clinics are open in Shenzhen, and only one is profitable. Ng Wai Clinic in Luohu District recently was punished for hiring unlicensed doctors.

    Lam said he’s not worried about the hospital’s business in Shenzhen, although he doesn’t expect profits in the first six months.

    “Mainland patients often see doctors at public hospitals due to their strong medical resources. However, there have been a growing number of mainland patients who can afford high-end medical services and they would like to pay more to a private hospital if they are sure about its service. When I was in Hong Kong, there were many mainland patients coming to see me, so I saw the business opportunity,” Lam said.

    Lam plans to open a second hospital in Beijing this year and a third in Shanghai in 2014.