A conference on healthcare reform in four provinces and one city was held in Shanghai on May 25. Wang Hesheng, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission attended the conference and delivered a speech.

The four provinces and one city, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian and Shanghai, were all pilot regions in the nation's healthcare reform. 

The conference featured discussions on the purchases of medical compounds and pilot reform programs on supply of traditional Chinese medicine. 

Wang spoke highly of the five areas' leading role in comprehensive healthcare reform. He hoped that the four provinces and Shanghai will cooperate together to advance construction of unified medical services, develop a community family physician model to meet the public’s needs and set up a new mechanism to deepen public hospitals' reform. 

He also hoped to push forward joint purchases of medical drugs to lower prices, promote the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry and stimulate health informatization construction based on health big data.

An expert committee was set up at the conference, which was attended by appropriate leaders from the four provinces and Shanghai. Two cooperative agreements among the five regions were also signed.