Southeast Asia shouldn’t copy the U.S. healthcare model, says Walgreens Boots Alliance’s APAC head: ‘It saves your life, but it’s not very healthy’
Fortune · Angelica Ang ·
Southeast Asia is building out its systems of care amid rising healthcare costs and a shortage of specialist doctors.
The U.S. is the world’s largest healthcare spender, pouring roughly 17% of its GDP—or $5.6 trillion—into treatments and care. Yet, according to Li Zhong, the APAC president of the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), while Americans generally have a long lifespan, they have a shorter healthspan than their counterparts in Vietnam, despite the latter devoting just 4.6% of its GDP to health spending.
“Everyone loves to reference the U.S., since it has been able to come up with the most advanced therapies to extend life,” Li said at Fortune’s Southeast Asia 500 Summit in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 3. “It saves your life, but it’s not very healthy. That’s not what I would suggest for Southeast Asia.”
Li’s comments come as Southeast Asia builds out its systems of care amid rising healthcare costs and a shortage of specialist doctors. “Every country is different and has to find its own route,” he explained. “What’s not right is to automatically reference the U.S. model.”