Li Bin, minister of China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, met with Richard Horton, chief editor of The Lancet, a medical journal based in the UK, and William Summerskill, executive editor of the journal, on June 26. Li answered questions about China’s healthcare reform and progress during the interview with the editors.

Li expressed gratitude to the journal’s long-term attention and support of China’s healthcare sector, which helped China’s healthcare reform and spread Chinese voices in the health sector to the international community.

She talked about the work of NHFPC since it was established last year. With a focus on expanding medical and healthcare reform and adjusting family planning, the commission prompted comprehensive reform at public hospitals, enhanced medical service quality and pushed ahead the public healthcare service.

With huge populations and differences between regions, China is in transition, so the work of health and family planning faces huge challenges, Li said. Healthcare reform is a long-term systematic project with difficulties, and it should be adapted for the reality of China, learn from the experiences of foreign countries and then choose methods that are suitable for China, Li said.

The reform should be question-oriented with a top-down design. By conducting experiments at first, the reform will be gradually implemented, according to the minister.

Horton, the chief editor of the journal, said that the whole world has witnessed the accomplishments in China’s healthcare reform. He suggested that it should enhance the cost-benefit analysis on medicine and medical technology, strengthen the fund input mechanism based on performance, pay attention to the construction of a chronic noninfectious disease control system, and attract more medical personnel to participate in the reform. The journal will continue to pay attention to the reform and development of the Chinese healthcare sector and launch closer cooperation with Chinese medical institutions and experts.

Officials from NHFPC’s general office, department of communications and department of international cooperation, as well as representatives from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, also participated in the meeting and interview.