China’s top health watchdog body held the first national conference on hospital capacity building and development on Nov 2 in Beijing.

The conference was sponsored by the Center for Capacity Building and Continuing Education under the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).

Delegates join China’s first conference on hospital capacity building and development on Nov 2 in Beijing. [Photo by Shen Bohan/Xinhua]

Jin Xiaotao, deputy minister of the NHFPC, addressed the opening ceremony, saying that the meeting was part of the implementation of the Healthy China strategy initiated by China’s top leadership earlier this year.

"China’s public hospitals are an important force in the country’s health and care system,” said Jin. "Putting equal emphasis on western and Chinese medicine is both a glorious mission and a huge pressure."

Jin Xiaoyao (left), deputy minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, addresses the opening ceremony of the conference on hospital capacity building and development. [Photo by Shen Bohan/Xinhua]

He also noted that hospital capacity building and development is part of national health-care reform.

"The ultimate goal is to establish a modern public hospital management system," said Zhu Hongbiao, deputy director in charge of structural reform at the NHFPC.

Zhu specified three elements in the goal: public hospitals for the public good, the separation of hospital management from hospital operations, and the separation of ownership and management.

Zhu said that China can offer its own solution to the worldwide problem of hospital reform.

Yang Aiping, director of the center for capacity building and continuing education under the NHFPC, speaks at the conference. [Photo by Shen Bohan/Xinhua]

The meeting, held at the Beijing Conference Center, attracted over 500 participants from the NHFPC, health industry associations and hospital presidents from across the country.