As Luye Medical Group, part of the $2.5bn Hong Kong-listed pharma giant Luye Pharma, spends $700m on Australia’s third largest hospital operator to help ‘designing and managing Chinese hospitals’, it is clear that the Chinese healthcare industry is looking to Westernise. But the country is still a difficult market to enter.

Although large Western operators were hoping to capitalise on China’s reforms pushing for more private sector provision, many operators still favour the high cost low volumes model – and they need a local partner. In an interview with Australian paper Financial Review, Luye’s CFO Charles Wang said that this trend is largely unsuccessful.

Chinese players, meanwhile, are proliferating and increasingly specialising. And while there is plenty of capital, one thing is missing: management expertise. As a result, expect more Chinese acquisition sprees targeting Western private healthcare, but don’t keep your hopes up on the reverse working out. As Ramsay’s withdrawal from the Jinxin hospital JV in Chengdu proves, China’s pro-private turn remains lead from the inside.