In China, most hospitals are run by the government. Physicians were previously quasi-government employees and with little freedom in the choice of the hospital to work with. In addition, decades of planned economic policy discouraged physicians from opening their own clinics, and the practice of medicine was generally non-private.
Physicians now are encouraged to open private clinics or hospitals in China, and those who have been practicing medicine for five years after they received national physician licenses can open their own clinics.
