As China quickly steps into the aging society, private enterprises find big potential in the remote medical service market, especially in rural areas.

Citing the statistics from the national census in 2010, the elderly population (people older than 60) in China is at 178 million, 13 percent of the total population of 1.3 billion.

Another number from the China Ministry of Health says more than 2 billion people go to hospital every year. If counting in people that are in the state of sub-health, the number is much higher.

Li Shidong, president of the medical service website 999120, detected the business opportunity and took action quickly. In 2005, he established 999120 to offer online registration and make doctor recommendations for patients.

The increasing hits now pushed him to take further actions—by establishing locations in rural areas to make direct interactions with patients.

As a company based in Beijing, it started to carry out the grand plan in nearby villages. Up to now, the company has opened 213 clinics inHuairouCountyinBeijing.

"By establishing these locations in villages, people can talk with doctors through the remote diagnosis systems, and the doctors we recruited at these sites can offer advice on dining and nutrition to people to keep health," Li says.

The company plans to open 10,000 locations across the country by 2013, based on the existing health clinics in rural areas. For each location, the headquarters will provide one remote diagnosis system and help to train the doctors and nurses.

These clinics will also do physical checkups, create personal health files, help to recommend proper hospitals and doctors and make suggestions on people’s diet and excises.

Revenue from these clinics will be split between 999120 and the clinics.

As the total amount of investment is huge, the company recently partnered with an American investment group to roll out the plans.

In October, the government introduced the 12^thFive-Year Plan (2011-15) for the medical care segment. It calls for private enterprises and capital funds to tap the medical care segment, which officially opened the door to companies offering medical services.

By now the company has partnered with 2,700 hospitals across the country for remote diagnosis.

"We plan to raise the output to 50 billion yuan in the next five years, and develop 1,000 VIP members, besides of the 500,000 members we plan to develop," Li says.

Contact the writer at wangchao@chinadaily.com.cn