An Irish entrepreneur is about to conduct a major assault on China's rapidly expanding private health care market.

Belfast-born Mr Brian O'Connor, chairman of the Hong Kong-based company, Quality Health Care Asia Ltd, is planning to establish a chain of private medical clinics across China, aimed at corporate clients and wealthy Chinese.

While many expatriates left Hong Kong before and after the 1997 handover of the territory to communist China, Mr O'Connor bucked the trend and founded the successful Quality HealthCare Asia in 1997.

In the space of five years he has developed the company into Hong Kong's biggest private healthcare provider, and the territory's first listed healthcare company.

Today Quality HealthCare Asia has a total of 300 clinics in Hong Kong, and treats 600,000 people or 8 to 9 per cent of the territory's population. The company has 1,000 staff, including 450 doctors, and does 150,000 patient consultations a month.

"We cover all of the territory of Hong Kong. 80 per cent of our business comes from corporate clients," Mr O'Connor said.

He is now planning to repeat the success of Quality HealthCare Asia in mainland China, hoping to set up business in the next few months.

"We are looking for growth outside of Hong Kong and China is an obvious target for us," he said during an interview in his Hong Kong office.

"We hope to finish the deliberation stage of the move in the next six weeks, and to announce our first move one month after that."

"It is easier now for foreign companies to go into China and healthcare is important for their staff. We will probably set up with a local partner, as in China that is always easier."

The company is also investigating establishing clinics in Macau, which is set to boom following the recent decision to allow it set up licensed casinos.

According to Mr O'Connor, there is huge scope for his services in China, with only a few companies currently providing private health care. "There is a genuine need and we will be targeting not just expats but middle and upper class Chinese as well".

Mr O'Connor said the company plans to replicate the success of its Hong Kong operations by providing integrated healthcare through a chain of clinics, which will initially set up in Beijing, Shanghai and Guanzhou.

The clinics will offer different disciplines of healthcare, providing GP and dental services, physiotherapy, dispensing of prescribed drugs, Chinese medicine and nursing home care for China's growing ageing population.

Mr O'Connor began his business career in 1961 at the age of 16 with Williams Travel.

He later founded a travel agency and tour operating business on the Isle of Man, and in 1987 established CrestaCare plc, now one of the largest private healthcare providers in Britain.

He went to Hong Kong in 1992 to work with the Allied Group, a Chinese conglomerate that was in trouble with the regulators and in need of help.

He retired as chairman of that company in 1997 before setting up Quality HealthCare Asia. Mr O'Connor is a non-executive director of Dunloe Ewart.

He is also chairman of the University of Ulster Foundation, and his role is to raise money for the university.

At the moment, he is spearheading plans to commercialise the university's research department.