Sun Zhigang: seek new breakthroughs in medical reform

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-06-04

Over the past two years, the central government earmarked funds to support facilities and equipment upgrade for 1,877 county-level hospitals, 5,169 health centers in towns and villages, 2,382 community health centers, and 11,250 village clinics in remote areas, which make a significant improvement in hardware for community-level medical institutions. At the same time, construction of the community medical and healthcare team began, with a focus on cultivating general practitioners. A total of 5,000 medical students signed up to work at township-level health clinics in Central and Western China, receiving free medical education. More than 20,000 practitioners were recruited for township-level health clinics, and 16,000 medical staff at community level attended the general practitioner training.

To improve the equalization of basic public health services, China offers nine basic public health services and seven major public health services to urban and rural residents for free. Over the past two years, a total of 560,000 poor cataract patients have received free surgeries, more than 60 million children have received free hepatitis B vaccinations, more than 80 million elderly people have received free health checks, and more than 40 million chronic patients have received free health management services.

In addition, public hospital reform have launched piloting in 16 key cities and provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). Relevant departments and regions have actively promoted the establishment of a cooperative mechanism between public hospitals and community level health institutions. Some areas have taken full measures to make it more convenient for the public to utilize hospital service. The General Office of the State Council issued guiding documents to encourage private capital to set up hospitals.