Premier Li Keqiang gave an instruction to a national conference on medical reform, which was held in Beijing on March 28.

The medical and healthcare reform concerns people's health and social and economic development in China, Premier Li said in the instruction.

Over the past year, all regions and related departments have made significant progress in promoting medical reform, the Premier noted. And he sent sincere regards to those working on the frontlines.

The Premier urged related departments to further deepen the reform of medical care, medical insurance and the pharmaceutical industry, vigorously promote the construction of the medical treatment partnership system and make breakthroughs in reforming the medical insurance payment system in accordance with the requirements of the Report on the Government Work of 2017.

He also urged efforts to build a nationwide information network for basic health insurance so that healthcare costs can be settled directly where incurred, and improve the major disease insurance system to enhance people's wellbeing and sense of gain.

"Related departments should carry out Premier Li's instructions and follow the State Council's arrangements to speed up the establishment of the healthcare system with Chinese characteristics and lay a solid foundation for building ‘Health China 2030'", Vice-Premier Liu Yandong said at the conference.

She also added that future efforts should be focused on benefiting people's health, such as optimizing distribution of medical resources and promoting the scientific management of resources and diagnostic results.

The government should play a leading role and the public should be mobilized to participate, Liu said, stressing that extra attention should be paid to the health of key groups.

In addition, Liu stressed the role of government in supervision and leadership in efficiently pushing forward the implementation of health reform.