Chindex International Announces Signing of Letter of Intent for Its Third Private Hospital Venture Xiamen United Family Hospital.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2004

Company Extends Unique Hospital Network to Southern China

Chindex International, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHDX), the leading independent American provider of Western healthcare products distribution and healthcare services in the People's Republic of China, today announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Xiamen Zhongshan Hospital to establish its third hospital venture in the People's Republic of China. The new hospital will be in the southern city of Xiamen. The company's United Family Hospital network now operates its flagship hospital in Beijing and will open its second facility in Shanghai in mid-2004.

"We are very pleased to be signing this LOI for our third United Family Hospital," Roberta Lipson, President and CEO of Chindex, commented in Beijing.

"We have more than five years of successful and growing operations with our flagship facility in Beijing and our Shanghai hospital will open later this year. We have the only foreign invested private hospital network in China. Now we are expanding our market reach into Southern China. All of our United Family Hospitals are designed to offer a full range of inpatient and outpatient services on an international standard basis. In Xiamen, our hospital will be structured as a joint venture between Chindex and Xiamen Zhongshan Hospital, with Chindex owning 70% of the venture.

"Assuming that the final Chinese Government approvals are received and arrangements for financing the hospital are put in place in the near future, the Xiamen facility will open in phases starting in 2005. Xiamen is a city in southern China with the second highest per capita GDP and a Taiwanese and foreign population of over 70,000. Xiamen United will be the first foreign invested hospital in the city.

"Our development strategy for the United Family Hospital network is based on a national hospital administration organization and integrated clinical operations in the primary facilities. Satellite feeder clinics associated with each facility will expand the geographic reach within each urban center. This system not only offers international healthcare services, but also extends this quality of service into the huge local Chinese market. We believe that the system offers tremendous growth potential and improved profitability.

"The model of primary care clinical services will be based on the model used in our other facilities. We have proven that our business model for private hospitals in China works. Future Chindex hospitals are in the planning stages now as well, including our previously-announced proposed hospital project in Guangzhou, with respect to which we are still in discussions with a potential joint venture partner there," Lipson concluded.

Chindex is a leading American company in healthcare in the Greater Chinese marketplace including Hong Kong. It provides representative and distribution services to a number of major multinational companies including Siemens AG (diagnostic color ultrasound scanners under the Acuson and Siemens brand names), Becton-Dickinson (including vascular access, infusion and critical care systems), Johnson & Johnson (clinical chemistry analyzers), and Guidant (interventional cardiology products including stents, balloon catheters and guide wires). Its distribution channels to the retail pharmacy industry in China have been developed through a relationship with a major multinational cosmetics manufacturer. It also provides healthcare services through the operations of its private hospital corporation in China. With twenty-two years of experience, over 600 employees, and operations in the United States, China and Hong Kong, the Company's strategy is to expand its cross-cultural reach by providing leading edge technologies, quality products and services to Greater China's professional communities. Further company information may be found at the Company's websites, www.chindex.com and www.unitedfamilyhospitals.com.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to the Company's (i) performance goals, including successful conclusion of efforts to secure government-backed financing on behalf of customers, (ii) future events and earnings, including revenues from the Company's developmental businesses such as healthcare services, (iii) markets, including growth in demand in China for the Company's products and services, (iv) proposed new operations, including expansion of its healthcare services business, and the uncertainty of financing therefore (v) the impact of the SARS epidemic, including the recovery of delayed or reduced sales, (vi) the timing of the opening of new hospital facilities, and (vii) the availability of loan funds. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.