The Fourth Session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee kicked off on March 5, where Premier Li Keqiang delivered the government work report. Much attention was given to the reform of hospitals and medical insurance. Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, answered questions from the public.

Q: There have been some unhappy voices about medical reform. What do you think of them? What do you think can be improved in future medical reform?

A: I did receive a lot of similar questions. Some problems do exist at the moment, but they are not a result of medical reform. They are exactly what the reform is trying to resolve, such as difficulties in getting diagnosis and treatment at public hospitals, poor distribution of resources, an underdeveloped medical system, shortage of professionals, difficulty paying and problems with prices. These problems need to be solved through reform. 

Medical reform is a process. It begins with pilot project, with reforms at at the grassroots level and county-level public hospitals. We have already carried out pilot reform of public hospitals in 100 cities and comprehensive medical reforms in four provinces. People in those regions might feel stronger about the benefits of those reforms. We'll expand the reform in 2016 and bring benefits to more people.  Certainly, some regions have fallen short in carrying out major national policies. Some local reforms only touched low-profit drugs and failed to address fiscal compensation and price adjustment mechanism. Some medicine prices during centralized purchasing but failed to adjust end prices. Those problems will all require hard efforts.  

Q: Are there any successful pilot reforms?　What do we mean by ‘integrated reforms’?　

A: Yes. The pilot reform in Fujian province's Sanming city has been a success. The city reformed 22 local public hospitals since 2012. The integrated reform means putting one leader in charge and strengthening planning and coordination. 

The city's reform focused on pushing medical and health services for public welfare. It has cut profit chains and inflated medicine prices, adjusted medical costs and established new operation mechanisms, with an incentive and restriction mechanism and upgraded capacity. 

We insist that public hospital reform should be all about public welfare, and doctors should focus on treating patients and drugs should be just about treating disease.