I Can Talk to the Internal Organs

Chapter 379 - 345: Pie in the Sky

Huang Qianqi understood the core of the problem.

With the current momentum of Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, in a few years, the residents of Jianghan City might only have three hospitals to choose from.

One is naturally theirs, the other is Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, and the last one is the Maternity and Child Health Hospital.

Each of the three hospitals has its own advantages. For example, theirs is advanced in diagnostics and surgery, Lu Jiu TCM Hospital specializes purely in traditional Chinese medicine, which can cure some minor ailments, while the Maternity and Child Health Hospital focuses on ensuring the health of pregnant women and newborns.

Each has an irreplaceable position in its field.

For now, it is still their hospital that holds the initiative firmly.

However, since Jianghan City is just a county-level city with a small population, if they really compete in healthcare, they will undoubtedly suffer losses.

Because according to the information currently available to Huang Qianqi, Lu Jiu TCM Hospital already has connections in Jinling. As they expand, they have brought in many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine from Jinling.

Once these high-level practitioners gather in Jianghan, it means that in the future, for minor illnesses, many patients will not consider Jianghan People’s Hospital anymore.

After all, both treat diseases, but Lu Jiu TCM Hospital charges only for diagnosis, with no various tests, making their fees much lower. Just in terms of cost-effectiveness, the gap is significant.

At that time, surgeries will be the only thing that Lu Jiu TCM Hospital cannot replace.

But a hospital can’t rely solely on surgeries for profit!

Huang Qianqi knew that even if Lu Jiu TCM Hospital establishes a surgery department and can afford various equipment, their doctors won’t be a match for theirs.

But that’s not the point.

Once the TCM Hospital establishes a surgery department, as long as their doctors continue to educate patients, advising them to avoid surgeries unless necessary.

Then, when such a philosophy of treatment becomes deeply rooted and is spread by word of mouth, over time, the highest medical status in Jianghan City will shift from Western medicine to traditional Chinese medicine.

At that moment, TCM will dominate the public’s health views!

In this way, let alone cooperation, the number of patients needing surgery will probably be decided by Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, which means they will have the only edge of Jianghan People’s Hospital firmly in their grasp.

This is what shocked Huang Qianqi.

Obviously, Fang Qian also saw this step.

"Dean Huang, I think we really need to be careful about this. Not only is Lu Jiu connected with Jinling’s practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, but he also has connections with Professor Liu’s group, who are officials of the Huaxia Medical Journal. With their current level of operation, once they have the funds to purchase medical equipment, building a surgery department might not be very difficult."

"If their surgery department matures, we’ll find ourselves in an awkward situation. Even if we want to cooperate, Lu Jiu might agree, but their doctors probably won’t. After all, if they can control the entire healthcare market, who would want to share it with outsiders?"

Huang Qianqi remained silent.

He understood that Fang Qian was not exaggerating the situation.

He was just puzzled as to why Lu Jiu was able to obtain so many resources after a visit to Jinling.

Was it Huang Fusheng, or Shen Congwei?

Impossible.

Although they hold high positions, they each represent their own hospitals, and if they use resources outside of themselves to support Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, their representative hospitals will not agree.

This means that the allocation of these resources is likely due to Lu Jiu.

"Establishing a surgery department in a TCM Hospital... that’s a bold move, completely breaking my preconceived notions of TCM hospitals. It seems there’s indeed a need to seriously discuss this with him." Huang Qianqi found Lu Jiu increasingly unpredictable.

In his impression, TCM hospitals fell into two categories: one that was essentially a Western hospital under the guise of traditional Chinese medicine, and the other a pure TCM hospital. Certainly, the former was more prevalent, while the latter was rare.

A hospital like Lu Jiu’s, structured with a primary emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine and a secondary on Western medicine, was something Huang Qianqi had never seen before.

Nevertheless, Lu Jiu’s scope was indeed broad.

He held firm that traditional Chinese medicine should lead, while not excluding Western practices, which was somewhat challenging for people like Huang Qianqi to accept.

However, with the rise of Lu Jiu TCM Hospital, it’s something they can no longer prevent. Instead of resisting, it might be more beneficial to try cooperation, which is better than gradually losing competitiveness like a frog boiled slowly in warm water.

Public hospitals aren’t without examples of bankruptcy either.

...

A restaurant, private room.

The same place, the same wait.

Only this time, it wasn’t Dean Qi who came, but Dean Huang from People’s Hospital.

Of course, accompanying him were Fang Qian, as well as a middle-aged man who was somewhat unfamiliar to Lu Jiu.

"Dean Huang, Director Fang."

Seeing the two arrive, Lu Jiu promptly stood up to greet them.

After meeting, Huang Qianqi smiled broadly and said, "Dean Lu, let me introduce you. This is Secretary Li, the top leader of our hospital."

Oh?

Even the top leader came.

It seems they take this cooperation very seriously!

Lu Jiu smiled and said, "Secretary Li, pleased to meet you."

Li Dong smiled, extended his hand, and shook Lu Jiu’s, "Dean Lu, you are so young and capable. You can’t find another dean as young as you in the entire country."

Lu Jiu smiled and said, "I just happened to benefit from my teachers and the principal, merely taking advantage of the opportunity."

Li Dong’s eyes twinkled, "I don’t quite agree. Someone who aims to change the medical landscape of Jianghan City cannot simply have become a dean by mere chance."

Lu Jiu chuckled, "Hehe, Secretary Li, please have a seat. Let’s eat and chat."

"Waiter, you can serve the food now."

Following Lu Jiu’s call, everyone started to take their seats.

As the liaison for this meeting, Fang Qian tactfully initiated the conversation.

"Dean Lu, I’ve already informed the secretary and Dean Huang about the situation. To be honest, regarding the cooperation you proposed, it’s difficult for us to accept."

Lu Jiu smiled, "Do you think it’s not profitable?"

Fang Qian said, "It’s not just that it’s not profitable. Partnering with you at this stage would harm our hospital’s interests, and I think you should be well aware of that."

Lu Jiu laughed, "Have you calculated how much it would harm the hospital’s interests?"

"I’ve made a rough estimate. For a typical patient needing surgery, the daily hospitalization check is around five hundred. After surgery, during recovery, the daily hospital fee is about two or three hundred. Let’s round it up and say it’s one thousand per day."

"I consulted experts, and the average hospital stay for most patients ranges from seven to fourteen days. That means if we send a patient your way, excluding surgery costs, you’re losing a thousand daily, fifteen thousand in half a month."

"Calculating like this, ten patients equals one hundred and fifty thousand, a hundred equals one and a half million, and a thousand is fifteen million. It does add up. But have you considered, except for the residents of Jianghan City, who else would come to you for surgery?"

"If you only focus on Jianghan City, you are indeed at a loss. But what about on a national scale? If our hospital can continuously send patients for your surgeries, wouldn’t the surgery fees from patients who originally do not belong to you make up for this loss, perhaps even surpass past profits?"

On a national scale!?

The three of them were slightly taken aback.

Lu Jiu’s words instantly broadened their perspective.

Previously, they indeed only considered Jianghan City, as this is often the shortcoming of Western hospitals.

Everyone knows that the best medical equipment and doctors are in big cities. If someone has a complex illness, even the local residents wouldn’t choose to have surgery at their hospital, let alone out-of-town patients.

As a result, they couldn’t expand beyond.

However, despite Lu Jiu’s grand vision, it didn’t prompt the three experienced old hands to immediately agree.

Such rhetoric they had heard countless times, and they even often used it themselves, so naturally, they wouldn’t be easily swayed by Lu Jiu’s words.

Huang Qianqi sipped his tea, smiled at Lu Jiu, and asked, "Dean Lu, are you so certain that your hospital can break out of Jianghan?"