The Ministry of Health and Welfare's deputy minister Chung-Liang Shih said that in order to expand the objectives of the new southward policy for healthcare, the ministry has recently announced the relaxation of the 20 percent restriction on investment by medical corporations, with one of the goals being to allow Taiwan hospitals to further leverage Taiwan's brand name when setting up overseas hospitals in Southeast Asia.

In mid-October, the Medical Excellence Taiwan (MET) Foundation, a consortium established by 12 healthcare systems including Chang Gung, travelled to Malaysia with a number of hospital directors to sign a letter of intent (MOU) with two local conglomerates, with the aim of facilitating the establishment of Taiwanese hospitals in Malaysia. During the trip, Shi also travelled to Malaysia to witness the initial cooperation between the two parties.

MET's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ming-Yen Wu, said that in order to avoid not being able to take the lead in the operation of the hospital in Southeast Asia, the plan was for Taiwan to invest 51% of the shares through a third location (Singapore being the most appropriate location).

Shi said that in the past, the hospital's new southbound policy had a difference between the concepts of Inbound and Outbound, with Inbound being about getting international patients into Taiwan and Outbound being about assisting ASEAN countries with talent training, but that was all it did. He said a recent evaluation found that the number of international patients coming to Taiwan was limited, and that it was worth exploring whether assisting ASEAN countries in training medical professionals could fully utilise the expertise learnt in Taiwan.

Shi said that in order to deepen the relationship with Southeast Asian countries through medical treatment, he wanted to establish a Taiwanese brand through the establishment of Taiwan hospitals there. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on September 21 an amendment to Article 35 of the Medical Law that would lift the limit of 20 per cent for medical corporations to invest in enterprises, and one of the intentions of this relaxation is directly related to Taiwan hospitals setting up hospitals in Southeast Asia.

He said that Taiwan's medical institutions would face a regulatory problem if they wanted to set up hospitals overseas, as private hospitals in ASEAN, including Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, are established in the name of companies, which are different from Taiwan's medical corporations. If any of the Taiwan consortium hospitals wanted to set up in South East Asia, if they were subject to the 20% restriction on the original investment company, the interests of Taiwan hospitals would be jeopardised.