China's cancer epidemic driving investment in healthcare

Hong Kong

ONE of China's coal capitals, Datong is paying for years of heavy, gritty pollution. Cancer rates are soaring in the northern city despite efforts to vanquish the smog, and the disease accounted for a third of deaths in 2012.

By the end of the year, patients in this city bordering Inner Mongolia will get one of its province's first privately run, radiotherapy-equipped cancer hospitals - built by New York-listed Concord Medical Services Holdings Ltd.

A cancer epidemic is sweeping through China, and with the investment deep in the nation's heartland, Concord joins a string of companies racing to reach the wa…