An interview with Mr. Dai Jiongjie, CEO of PERFETTO MEDICAL
The increasing health concerns of Chinese people is a driving factor of the boom of health industry. Spas, medical clinics, urban wellness centers have emerged one by one in a rapid pace. Meanwhile, the operators seem to be unsatisfied with the current business and continually seek to transform business modes and even cross boundaries. With regard to the consumers, industry prosperity doesn’t necessarily mean a due increase of health knowledge among the public. With rich working experience in public hospitals and private medical groups, as well as being a trustworthy consultant sought by many life beauty and spa operators, Mr. Dai Jiongjie shares with SpaChina his insights on the challenges faced by China’s wellness industry today and the common mistakes consumers have made on the way of seeking health.
A graduate from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dai Jiongjie is a TCM medical practitioner, a TCM physical therapy consultant, a visiting lecturer at Shanghai Jiaotong University and a TCM consultant for Hyatt Group. Taught and trained by TCM masters Wang Ximing and Lu Shichang, Dai Jiongjie has long been dedicated to TCM clinic practices and carried out deep study on acupuncture, Tuina, TCM wellness and TCM basic theories. He co-founded Zen Anti-Aging Health Management Center in the Netherlands before serving as the chief health expert consultant of BESTWAY Medical Group and the CEO of OMINICELL Health Management Center in China. He is now the CEO of PERFETTO MEDICAL.
Please tell us your working experience and current business.
I have once been involved in the operation of two anti-aging centers abroad in two countries, both including spa facilities. I worked overseas for quite a long time before coming back to China. Now I am running a medical company. We have 12 clinics and hospitals nationwide that cover medical beauty, dermatology, exercise rehabilitation, gynecology, pediatrics, TCM and more.
Is there a huge need for health enhancement among Chinese people? What are the major health concerns? What challenges and problems do you see among the operators and the consumers?
People’s need for health enhancement in China is huge. That is why I came back from the Netherlands. Today, everyone is talking about big health and health management. But do we really know what they are? Before these, there is one thing called health education. Both our customers and we ourselves are eager to be educated instead of casually choosing one single so-called health product or program. I believe that after proper health education, the health market will experience even bigger prosperity.
I discovered that there is a wrong trend in the health industry. The spa and life beauty center’s operators always want to share a portion of the medical beauty or even medical field while the people in the medical beauty section often covet the business modes of spa and life beauty centers. However, in my opinion, we shouldn’t mix up the two concepts, one is health management and the other is disease control. For example, sleep disorder is a disease which belongs to the latter category and requires specialized medical interventions. We mustn’t arbitrarily say one of our spa treatments can cure sleep disorder. However, spa people also have their significant missions. They are important health practitioners, promoters and educators to the ordinary public.
Concerning consumers, the most common mistake they make is to take a single product as a complete solution for health. When they eat something nutritious, they feel they have lived a healthy life. This is not true. There are many aspects that should be taken into consideration such as food intolerance or problems triggered by over intake. Especially if you take functional supplements or try some advanced programs, it’s better to do it under a specialized guidance of a professional personnel. Never simply copy everything on the Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) or Tik Tok.
Many spa operators come to you for business advice. What do you think are the points in which spas do well today and what are the challenges facing the industry?
As far as I am concerned, spas do well especially in two aspects, one is the integration of functional medicine concepts and the other is the introduction of TCM programs. Many spas have begun to develop treatments inspired by TCM theories.
There are truly some challenges in the spa field. The government is now encouraging doctors who are in public hospitals to open clinics, which can be clearly seen from the policies. In Shanghai, for instance, it takes only 2 weeks for a doctor to open his own clinic. We know it’s forbidden to do invasive treatments or acupuncture at spas. Now these doctors can build their clinic in the style of a spa, and meanwhile offer medical programs. So at this point, spas need to think, what core competitiveness do we have?
So I think “big health alliance” is a very good direction. We are in the process of building such an alliance. We all have our own advantages, so why don’t we unite together on one platform, to give our specialties into full display and let the customers come and choose what they want.
What health-related needs can you predict in the following 2-5 years for China? I believe, the most urgent need in the next 2-5 years is health guidance or health education. For example, when a patient suffering waist pain comes to you, you need to understand that this pain may be caused by joints, or intervertebral disc, or muscles, or even gall bladder. You also need to make your patients understand this. However, today many patients firstly take up the role of a doctor themselves. Before going to visit the doctor, they have decided which department they will visit. For stomach ache, they will choose gastroenterology department without hesitation. But in many cases, this first step is already wrong. So I believe in the future, there will be more certified health personnel who can provide health guidance to the public. Spas can also consider recruiting such personnel to give guests a more specialized consultancy.
