中文導讀
無論是疾病諮詢還是心理輔導，院內就診就會增加感染新冠病毒風險導致人們需要被迫切換就診方式，這種切換為網際網路無接觸診療、藥品配送的發展提供了機遇。
疫情期間，密集政策出臺推進網際網路診療以應對疫情。政策突出強調醫療機構應充分利用網際網路醫院平臺大力開展網際網路診療服務。在大眾需求與政策推動下，網際網路醫療將提前進入加速發展期。
在疫情引發全球市場暴跌的背景下，中國的網際網路醫療公司為投資者注入了一劑強心劑。
（三月份的經濟學人）
公眾號：趣讀經濟學人
雙語閱讀
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WHEN SARS, a coronavirus, hit China in 2003 citizenshunkereddownat home. This proved a blessing for some businesses. Chinese social media took off. So did e-commerce. Richard Liu, who ran a chain of consumer-electronics shops, shut all hisbrick-and-mortarstores and set up JD.com. The firm is now valued at $64bn.
2003年，沙士病毒在中國爆發，市民也只好安心呆在家。這為一些行業帶來了曙光，中國的社交媒體和電子商務就此騰飛。經營著一家消費電子產品連鎖店的劉強東當時關閉了所有的實體店，創辦了京東(JD.com)。現在京東市值640億美元。
hunker down 蹲下；靜居家中
brick-and-mortar 實體的
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A novel coronavirus that has brought China to a halt this year is boosting anotherfledglingindustry: telemedicine. As hospitalsturn awaypatients with other ailments and many Chinese are confined to their homes orsteer clear ofclinics for fear of infection, millions are seeking treatment and advice on the internet. The government isegging themon.
新型冠狀病毒今年讓中國再次陷入停滯，但它正在推動另一個新興行業的發展:網際網路醫療。當醫院運載過量無暇顧及其他小疾病患者時，許多中國人也因為害怕感染而選擇呆在家裡或是對診所敬而遠之，因此數百萬人正轉向網上以尋求治療和診斷。政府也在背後順水推舟。
fledgling 無經驗的；新興的
turn away 拒絕
steer clear of 對..敬而遠之
egg on 鼓動
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Xin Lijun, boss of JD Health, says that his platform’s monthly consultations have grown tenfold since the outbreak, to 2m. Some 1.6mtuned in toa talk by a top cardiologist that the JD.com subsidiary live-streamed. Without the outbreak, the shift in consumer behaviour would have taken perhaps five years, reckons Mr Xin. Chen Qiaoshan of Analysys, a consultancy in Beijing, thinks that China’s online health-care market may near 200bn yuan ($29bn) this year, up from her pre-outbreak estimate of 158bn yuan.
京東健康CEO辛利軍表示，自疫情爆發以來，在他平臺上諮詢的每月次數增加了10倍，達2百萬次。大約有160萬名觀眾在京東直播上收看了一名頂尖心臟病專家的演講。辛利軍認為如果沒有這次疫情，消費者行為的轉變可能還需要再等5年。北京諮詢公司易觀國際(Analysys)的陳喬珊認為，中國的在線醫療市場今年可能接近2000億元人民幣(合290億美元)，高於她在疫情爆發前估計的1580億元人民幣。
tuned in to 收看
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China’s telemedicine market—including consultations and drug sales—had been predicted to grow vigorously even before the latest epidemic. Ping An Good Doctor, a medical-services app run by a big insurer, claimed in September that over 300m had registered on it, equivalent to one in three internet users in China. Tianyancha, a data firm, counts over 1,000 home-grown telemedicine companies.
中國的網際網路醫療市場——包括問診和藥品銷售——早在最近的疫情爆發之前就被預測將會蓬勃發展。由一家大型保險公司運營的醫療服務應用——平安好醫生在9月份聲稱，有超3億註冊用戶，相當於中國三分之一的網際網路用戶。數據公司天眼查統計出中國一共有1000多家本土網際網路醫療公司。
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Until now, however, most of these firms have stuck to delivering drugs or, in Ping An’s case, booking appointments with specialists, whom Chinese patients favour overgeneral practitioners, even if it means queuing for hours at a hospital. Prestigious 「AAA」 hospitals account for one in ten public institutions but receive half of all outpatients. And the many Chinese who believe in traditional medicine, with its injunction that a reliable diagnosis cannot be made without feeling the pulse, wouldnot dream ofaccepting health advice by video link.
然而直到現在，大多網際網路醫療公司也只是在提供藥品配送服務，或者以平安好醫生為例，提供專家預約服務。中國人更青睞專家而非全科醫生，即使看一次專家要在醫院排上數小時的隊。享有盛譽的「AAA」級醫院僅佔所有公立醫院的十分之一，但卻接收了一半的門診病人。許多相信傳統中醫的中國人認為，如果不把脈，就無法做出可靠的診斷，因此也不會接受視頻問診的方式。
general practitioner 全科醫生
not dream of 不會考慮；對..無意
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Authorities, too, have been cautious. In many countries, including America, the world’s biggest telemedicine market, most insurers do not reimburse patients』 online expenses. Nor, in all but a few regions, does China’s national health-insurance scheme. Most Chinese online doctors are permitted only to handle repeat prescriptions and follow-up consultations, not make an initial diagnosis. A draft government policy from 2017 took 「anegative tone」 on internet hospitals and recommended they be shut down, recalls Li Tiantian, founder of Dingxiang Doctor.
有關部門也有所保留。在許多國家，包括世界上最大的遠程醫療市場美國，大多數保險公司不報銷病人的在線費用。除了少數地區外，中國的全民醫療保險制度也是如此。大多數中國網絡醫生只被允許進行複診和開二次處方，而不能進行初診。據「丁香醫生」(Dingxiang Doctor)的創始人李天天回憶，2017年的一份政府政策草案對網際網路醫院採取了「負面基調」，建議關閉。
negative tone 負面基調
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Last year the government began to lift some restrictions, such as a ban on the sale of prescription drugs. But covid-19, as the new disease is known, has accelerated the shift. At the peak of the epidemic in early February a health-ministry directivemandated that internet-based medical services be given 「full play」 to diagnose and treat patients. Another encouraged hospitals to give online consultations. Jiangsu province, China’s industrial powerhouse, authorised reimbursements for online medical care. So have cities including Shanghai and Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, where covid-19 first emerged.
去年，政府開始放寬政策，如取消處方藥銷售禁令。新冠疫情的爆發更是加快了這一風向。在2月初疫情最嚴重的時候，衛生部的一項指令要求充分利用網際網路醫療服務來診斷和治療患者。另一項指令則鼓勵醫院提供在線診斷。江蘇省，中國的工業重鎮，批准了在線醫療報銷。包括上海和最初出現疫情的湖北省省會武漢在內的一些城市也是如此。
mandate 要求；指令
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Telemedicine firms are trying towin overthe government and consumers by behaving like good corporate citizens. Many, including JD Health, offering patients consultations free of charge while the epidemic lasts. Ali Health, an arm of Alibaba, China’s e-commerce titan, launched a free 「online clinic」 for residents of Hubei; in five days 100,000 patients got a remote consultation. WeDoctor, an app backed by Tencent, a tech giant, mobilised 20,000 physicians to work online for no pay. Ping An set up an 「antivirus command centre」 to dispatch free face masks around the country. Dingxiang Doctor got epilepsy medication to 300 children in Hubei amid an acute shortage of suppliers and delivery firms. Its real-time heat map tracking covid-19 infections has been viewed 2.5bn times.
網際網路醫療公司試著通過樹立良好企業形象來贏得政府和用戶的認可。包括京東健康在內的許多機構，在疫情持續期間為患者提供免費診斷。中國電子商務巨頭阿里巴巴旗下的阿里健康為湖北居民推出了一個免費的「在線診所」；短短5天之內，10萬名患者得到了遠程會診。由科技巨頭騰訊支持的微醫，動員了2萬名醫生免費在線工作。平安建立了一個「防病毒指揮中心」，在全國範圍內發放免費口罩。在供應商和快遞公司運轉不過來的情況下，丁香醫生在湖北為300名兒童提供了癲癇藥物。其追蹤新冠病毒感染的實時熱圖瀏覽量高達25億次。
win over 贏得..的支持
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All this is costing the companies money. But, says Mr Xin of JD Health, it makes 「little sense」 to focus on profit at the moment. What matters, he adds, is how covid-19 has made people think twice about rushing to hospital and helped foster trust in general practitioners, who provide the bulk of online advice. It has also broadened the appeal of firms like his, beyond middle-aged patients with chronic conditions toweb-savvyyoungsters seeking advice for parents and grandparents and healthy types simply seeking reassurance. Of the 10m people who have turned to the internet for health services in the past month, perhaps half were first-time online patients, says Ms Chen. At least a third are likely to keep using such apps, she estimates.
這些行為都是在燒公司的錢。但是京東健康的辛利軍表示，當下關注利潤「沒有什麼意義」。他補充道，更重要的是，疫情能否讓人們在前往實體醫院前先思考再三有沒有其他更好的途徑，以及能否幫助人們建立起對全科醫生的信任，因為網絡上大量的醫療建議都是由他們所提供的。疫情還擴大了像京東健康這類型公司的吸引力，從患有慢性疾病的中年患者到精通網絡的為父母和祖輩尋求醫療建議同時想要確認自己身體健康狀況以求安心的年輕人。陳喬珊表示，過去一個月有1000萬人使用網際網路尋求醫療服務，而其中或有一半人是初次使用網際網路醫療服務。她估計，至少有三分之一的人可能會繼續使用在線醫療應用程式。
web-savvy 精通網絡的
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It is not just patients and politicians who are embracing telemedicine. JD Health has lured more pharmacies to its platform (in part by waiving the fee it earns on drug orders in Hubei). China’s underpaid, overworked doctors are also keen. Xiao Xingxing left a AAA hospital in Beijing to consult full-time for JD Health; many old colleagues and classmates are doing the same, she reports. And against the backdrop of a global, virus-induced stockmarketrout, Chinese online health firms offer a tonic to ailing investors. This year the share prices in Ping An Healthcare and Ali Health are up by 33% and 74%, respectively.
不只是大眾患者和決策層開始接受網際網路醫療。京東健康還吸引了更多的藥店進駐到它的平臺上(部分原因是它免除了湖北藥品訂單費用)。工資收入低、工作強度大的中國醫生也對此充滿了熱情和期待。肖倖幸從北京一家三A級醫院辭職後，成為了京東健康上的一名全職醫生。在疫情引發全球市場暴跌的背景下，中國的網際網路醫療公司為投資者注入了一劑強心劑。今年，平安健康和阿里健康的股價分別上漲了33%和74%。
rout 崩潰；潰敗