China needs a new prescription to reform its ailing healthcare system, according to government and business leaders.

More than 30 government officials, CEOs and senior executives of Fortune 500 companies discussed the challenges and proposed solutions for healthcare reform at the 30th China Daily CEO Roundtable, “The Road Ahead for China's Healthcare Reforms,” at the Grand Hyatt Beijing on Monday.

As the second CEO Roundtable to look at healthcare reform, the forum examined developments since last year's session as the country moved into its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10). The event marked the 30th anniversary of the CEO Roundtable, which has been attended by more than 1,000 government officials, CEOs and senior executives over the past two-and-a-half years, said Zhu Yinghuang, Editor-in-chief Emeritus of China Daily.

While many positive developments have been made in China's healthcare system since the last forum, the delegates agreed, the country has a long, hard road ahead.

“Healthcare reform as we all know is one of the biggest challenges or headaches in any developing country and China is no exception,” said CEO Roundtable Honorary Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Bayer Healthcare (China) Co Ltd Chris Lee. “When it comes to healthcare infrastructure, there are serious issues that need to be addressed to improve the current situation as far as improving the healthcare affordability for the entire population.”

The solutions, according to Jeffrey Li, country president and chief representative of Novartis Overseas Investment AG and honorary co-chairman of the CEO Roundtable, cannot come from the government alone.

“If the government is able to get input from all the stakeholders, they will be able to get a very balanced view of the issue,” Li said. “Here, I believe all the stakeholders also share the common goal of a longterm, sustainable healthcare system, because this is going to be helpful to all the businesses and individuals as well.”

He said that he believes there are many positive changes on the horizon. He pointed out that the Politburo has organized a group to study the topic and President Hu Jintao recently declared it is the government's responsibility to ensure the right to healthcare for all people. The 11th Five-Year Plan, he noted, devotes an entire chapter to healthcare reform, which is a significant expansion in focus from the 10th Five-Year Plan.

As China struggles to reform its healthcare system, one of the most challenging and crucial challenges it faces is defining the role of the public and private sectors.

“I don't think that's clear yet in China, and that's what we're waiting to see,” said Brian Murray, managing director of AIG Corporate R&D. “The first step is developing a national system. That's the problem we're facing when we're looking at China. In terms of pharmaceutical companies, we need to know what the system is going to be before we can figure out how we can enter that market.”

Jimmy Chan, a partner at Deloitte and Touche Corporate Finance Ltd, said the ambiguity of the respective roles of the private and public sectors has given many investors the jitters.

“We have investors who are interested in investing in the healthcare sectors but unfortunately, the undergoing reform has created substantial uncertainty,” Chan said. “We'd like to see more certain rules and the systems as a whole.”