DONGGUAN Municipal Government recently gave the go-ahead for the construction of five large private hospitals, the Southern Metropolitan News reported Saturday.

　　The permission came just one month after the city decided to speed up the reform of its medical institutions.

　　With the completion of the private hospitals, the service and medical technology in the city’s medical institutions would be raised to a higher level.

　　Dongguan residents would no longer need to go all the way to the neighboring Guangzhou or Shenzhen for treatment of serious illnesses, the News report said.

　　When completed, the 630 million yuan (US$75.6 million) Kanghua Hospital, one of the five private hospitals under construction, will be the largest cardiovascular hospital in Asia, the News report quoted hospital investors as saying. Dongguan is one of the first cities in Guangdong Province to encourage private investors to invest in medical institutions. A total of eight private hospitals are now operating in the city.

　　There are altogether 902 hospitals and clinics in Dongguan, which is equivalent to one medical institution within every 2.68 km, an official with the Dongguan Health Bureau said. What the city lacked was not hospitals but high-level hospitals, the official said.