During the last week of April, senior Diaverum executives left Sweden to go on a "Silk Road trip" across China, visiting the regions and cities where the company operates. Diaverum’s delegation engaged with healthcare and government stakeholders on a variety of topics, including new clinics and related healthcare investments, collaboration in disease management, patient education & healthcare staff training, as well as scientific innovation and research.
The company delegation included the CEO Dimitris Moulavasilis, CMO Dr Fernando Macário, Country Managing Director Sophia Zhang and Finance Director Martin Wong, who together conducted a series of high-profile visits in the 3 regions and 6 cities where Diaverum is active, over the course of a week. This series of visits has been in the make for some time, following the company’s Chinese market entry in 2018, but COVID restrictions postponed the company’s plans.
Warmly welcomed by key local stakeholders and government officials, Diaverum’s visits were reported by the Shanghai Securities News, one of the most influential financial and economic news agencies in the country, which noted that “unlike the ancient ‘Silk Road’, which connected China and the West, this ‘Silk Road’ did not centre around silk trade, but healthcare services” to CKD patients.
Dimitris Moulavasilis, Diaverum CEO, said: “After four days in China, crossing 3,000 km by air, car and train, I want to express my appreciation for the competence, passion, inspiration and commitment of all Diaverum China’s teams, as well as my gratitude to all authorities who hosted us. It was both humbling and gratifying to have to our value propositions receive such attention, and my admiration for the speed of progress of this great nation has only grown through this experience. We are all very proud of our Chinese operations, the quality of care and the value we bring to healthcare systems and local communities, and we are committed to continue investing in China.”
3,000 km by air, car and train across 3 regions and 6 cities
The visit’s first stop was Guangzhou, China's southern gateway and the third-most-populous city on the Chinese mainland, with 18.8 million population (2021) and with a regional GDP (2021) of 2.82 trillion yuan. With more than 2,000 years of history, the city is known as the "Millennium Trade Capital", the first port that opened to foreign trade in China and marked a starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. Diaverum operates two fast-growing clinics in Zengcheng and Huangpu, which opened in 2020 and 2021, respectively, delivering life-enhancing renal care to more than 160 patients.
The Diaverum delegation (left) is welcomed by the senior leadership of Guangzhou’s Ministry of Health (right)
The second stop was Wuxi, which is located in the Southeast of the Jiangsu Province at the centre of the Yangtze River Delta, the most developed economic area of China, 183km to the west of the region's capital, Nanjing. It has a population of 7.5 million and a GDP (2022) of 1.48 trillion yuan ranking no 1 GDP per capita among China’s medium-to-large cities. Diaverum operates two clinics in the Wuxi districts of Liangxi and Xishan, both of which opened in 2022, treating approximately 100 patients.
Diaverum executives – including CEO Dimitris Moulavasilis, CMO Dr Fernando Macário, China Country Managing Director Sophia Zhang and Finance Director Martin Wong - were welcomed by Wuxi authorities – including Mr. Qin, Deputy mayor of Wuxi, Mr. Da, Director of Wuxi Municipal Health Commission, and other senior officials.
The last day of Diaverum’s China "Silk Road Trip" was devoted to the Anhui region, visiting the Ningguo clinic and engaging with authorities in the cities of Nigguo, Xuancheng and the capital, Hefei. The Anhui Region is located across the Yangtze River and the Huai River basins, and with a population of 63.65 million, it is the 8th most populous region in China. In Anhui, Diaverum operates two fast-growing clinics in Ningguo and Wuhu, which opened in 2020 and 2021, respectively, delivering life-enhancing renal care to more than 200 patients.
The region's capital is Hefei, which is an ancient city with over 2,000 years’ history. It has a population of 9.6 million and a GDP of 1.2 trillion yuan. Today, Hefei is the centre of the Hefei Metropolitan Circle and Wan-Jiang Urban Belt, a national base for science & education, a modern manufacturing centre and a hub of comprehensive transportation.
Diaverum executives being welcomed by Mr. Liu, Party Secretary of Anhui’s Provincial Ministry of Health.
Sophia Zhang, China’s Managing Director for Diaverum, said: “These interactions with government officials in the regions and cities where we operate in China were a unique opportunity for us to share first-hand more about how our world-class medical outcomes and treatment standards, enabled by integrated care strategies and digital innovation. By working closely with our Chinese partners, we at Diaverum China believe we have the potential to transform the regional renal care landscape, improving our patients’ quality of life and delivering efficiencies for the healthcare system, with True care at the core of everything we do.”