For generations of Chinese people,
caring for a loved one in the hospital meant being there day and night.
China's new pilot program, family-free hospital care, promises change.
So how does this new system work?
And perhaps the biggest question of all, where does the money come from?
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Young.
For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherley and Yuxuan in the studio.
First on today's show.
Here's a scenario many of us in China know all too well.
A loved one gets hospitalized and suddenly your whole routine is turned upside down.
You're juggling work and hospital runs, staying overnight for bedside duties,
running on fumes, and maybe even paying for costly private help.
To tackle this,
China launched a national pilot in June 2025 called Hospital Care Without Family Caregivers or Fam free hospital care.
In Chinese, it's called Mian Pei Zhao Hu Fu.
The aim?
To ease the pressure on families by shifting daily patient care to trained hospital staff.
It's a major shift.
And are we ready for it?