China's State Council, or Cabinet, passed a long awaited medical reform plan which promised to spend 850 billion yuan (123 billion U.S. dollars) by 2011 to provide universal medical service to the country's 1.3 billion population.(Photo: News.cn) Photo Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council,
or Cabinet, passed a long awaited medical reform plan which promised to spend
850 billion yuan (123 billion U.S. dollars) by 2011 to provide universal medical
service to the country's 1.3 billion population.
The plan was studied and passed at Wednesday's
executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
Medical reform has been deliberated by authorities
since 2006.
Growing public criticism of soaring medical fees, a
lack of access to affordable medical services, poor doctor-patient relationship
and low medical insurance coverage compelled the government to launch the new
round of reforms.
According to the reform plan, authorities would take
measures within three years to provide basic medical security to all Chinese in
urban and rural areas, improve the quality of medical services, and make medical
services more accessible and affordable for ordinary people.
The meeting decided to take the following five
measures by 2011:
-- Increase the amount of rural and urban population
covered by the basic medical insurance system or the new rural cooperative
medical system to at least 90 percent by 2011. Each person covered by the
systems would receive an annual subsidy of 120 yuan from 2010.
-- Build a basic medicine system that includes a
catalogue of necessary drugs produced and distributed under government control
and supervision starting from this year. All medicine included would be covered
by medical insurance, and a special administration for the system would be
established.
-- Improve services of grassroots medical
institutions, especially hospitals at county levels, township clinics or those
in remote villages, and community health centers in less developed cities.
-- Gradually provide equal public health services in
both rural and urban areas in the country.
-- Launch a pilot program starting from this year to
reform public hospitals in terms of their administration, operation and
supervision, in order to improve the quality of their services.
Government at all levels would invest 850 billion
yuan by 2011 in order to carry out the five measures according to preliminary
estimates.
The meeting said the five measures aimed to provide
universal basic medical service to all Chinese citizens, and pave the road for
further medical reforms.
The meeting also decided to publish a draft amendment
to the country's regulation on the administration on travel agencies for public
debate.
It also ratified a list of experts and scholars who
would receive special government allowances.
BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's long-awaited medical
reform plan, which aims at providing universal medical service to 1.3 billion
people, is likely to be issued in January, Friday's 21st Century Business Herald
reported.
Five supplementary plans on medical insurance, basic
medicine, grassroots medical service, public health service and public hospital
reform will be issued at the same time, the newspaper quoted an unnamed source
as saying. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's long-awaited health
care reform plan, which aims at providing universal medical service to 1.3
billion people, was released Tuesday for public debate.
The country wants a health care system that covers
all urban and rural residents by 2020. According to the plan, that care should
be safe, effective, convenient and affordable. Full story
