BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Healthcare continued to attract investment in China, with funds flowing in to the sector increasing 78.64 percent year on year to 82.6 billion yuan (12.28 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the China Daily reported Tuesday.

Though much of the investment was fueled by the surging healthcare demands of the country's aging population, it was also aided by people's growing healthcare demand and policy support, the newspaper quoted an industry report as saying.

The report, by medical research consultancy vcbeat.net, showed that fundraising in the country's medical sector had grown rapidly from the 6.72 percent seen in 2017 to the current level.

The pharmaceutical sector continued to be the mainstay of the investments and garnered 21.3 billion yuan of funds. The growth of deals in the sector was also significant at 210 percent on a yearly basis.

The biotechnology sector attracted investment of 11.1 billion yuan and was ranked second.

"The growth in pharmaceutical sector investments was probably due to the government's policy adjustments," said the report. "However, as the industry settles down, it may not be able to replicate the momentum seen in 2018. This year, there may be a slight decline in pharmaceutical sector investments."