Health issues still concern in 2019 two sessions

Updated: 2019-03-01

The National Health Commission (NHC) held its regular news conference on Feb 25, pointing out that health issues will still be a major concern during this year's two sessions, namely, the Second Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Second Session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC).

According to incomplete statistics, over 200 CPPCC National Committee members and NPC deputies from medical and health systems will take part in this years' two sessions, said Song Shuli, director of the NHC's publicity department at the news conference.

Ge Minghua, director of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital and an NPC deputy, has submitted 39 motions and suggestions to the NPC on grassroots health development since 2013.

Ge introduced Zhejiang's efforts to deepen medical care reform such as elevating county-level medical system construction and simplifying medical service procedures.

As an oncologist, Ge has taken the lead to organize lecture tours to grassroots medical institutions to carry out regular training on the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases since 2010. In 2013, Ge participated in assisting the First People’s Hospital of Jiashan to improve its tumor treatment level.

Ge said that the number of malignant tumor operations conducted in the First People’s Hospital of Jiashan has jumped almost fivefold from that of 2013 and the number of thyroid cancer surgery has increased 11 fold.

Ge stated at the conference that he is going to submit motions mainly about two problems -- how to upgrade rural doctors’ level and ensure their welfare, and how to deepen medical care reform after the National Healthcare Security Administration’s establishment in 2018.

Fang Laiying, a CPPCC National Committee member  and vice-president of the Chinese Hospital Association, expressed a similar opinion about grassroots doctors.

In 2018, Fang submitted a proposal to the CPPCC National Committee on general practitioner cultivation. Detailed implementation rules were launched by about 30 provinces and cities themed on issues such as training bases construction and free general practitioner education for rural students in 2018 and a total of more than 40,000 general practitioners were enrolled nationwide.

Fang pointed out that talents catering to the grassroots needs, and not professors, are nowadays the scarcest resource in the medical area.

Apart from grassroots talents cultivation, Fang said that he will also submit proposals on issues such as the establishment of a medicine traceability system and the country’s solutions to population aging and people’s opting for fewer children.

Wang Yali, NPC deputy and director of the Digestive System Department of the Third People’s Hospital of Datong in Shanxi province, introduced the hierarchical medical system applied in Shanxi.

As the population living in county-level areas accounts for 70 percent of Shanxi’s overall population, the province has established medical alliances to bring more benefits to locals.

Wang added that Shanxi has also launched a social security policy covering basic medical insurance, critical illness insurance, commercial supplementary health insurance and medical assistance.

Gao Fu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a CPPCC National Committee member, said that a network covering the prevention, treatment and control of serious diseases was formed by the CDC, hospitals and grassroots medical centers in 2018.

The network has recorded 39 statutory infectious disease cases and has put in place systems such as real-time online monitoring for public health emergencies, real-name registration and procedures for control and prevention of chronic diseases.

Gao said that China has gained momentum in the control and prevention of chronic diseases and mental health care. A total of 365 national-level demonstrative areas for the control and prevention of chronic diseases have been built in the country and their experiences will be promoted nationwide.

Gao added that he will submit proposals related to the control and prevention of depression and mental health.