Chindex: Embracing the Chinese market

Source: Healthcare Digital

Date :07/12/2007 08:38:47

Judy Zakreski, VP of US Operations tells Exec US about the strategy behind Chindex’s impressive growth and how it is negotiating the challenges of the Chinese healthcare system.

Written by James Hurley and Produced by Tom Venturo

Chindex’s journey towards becoming a nationally recognized healthcare brand in China began over 25 years ago. In this time, it has grown from two employees to over 1,000. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, it began by marketing cutting-edge Western medical technologies to Chinese hospitals. It is now a nationwide distribution company serving over 3,000 institutions, and what was a small private concern has become a $106 million public healthcare company with numerous business platforms.

Evolution

Chindex supplies medical capital equipment, instrumentation and products to hospitals throughout the Chinese market, including Hong Kong, and also provides Western healthcare services in China. Its healthcare services are provided through the operations of its United Family Hospitals and Clinics, currently in the Beijing and Shanghai markets. Chindex also sells medical products manufactured by various multinational companies, including Siemens AG, its exclusive partner for the sale and servicing of color doppler ultrasound systems.

But as Judy Zakreski, VP of US Operations tells me, Chindex wasn’t always exclusively a healthcare company. “The company was founded by two American women, Roberta Lipson and Elyse Beth Silverberg when they were in their early twenties. They had studied Chinese in college and moved to China in the late 70s when the country re-established relations with the US.”

Part of a new wave of Westerners going into China, the pair met in Beijing, and saw an opportunity to bring all varieties of Western equipment into China. “Although we have always focused on the healthcare industry, in our early days, Chindex was also involved in construction…

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