BEIJING: China plans a major revamp of its public hospitals - criticised for their lack of access, huge fees and poor doctor services - as part of its long-awaited reforms of the national health-care system.
Health Minister Chen Zhu said a key part of the reforms will be to change the way hospitals make profits, the official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. 'As China aims to provide universal medical service to 1.3 billion people, state-run hospitals must be overhauled,' Mr Chen was quoted as saying at a national health meeting on Thursday.
China changed its health-care system in the early 1990s, scrapping a programme under which the government covered more than 90 per cent of medical expenses. Now, it covers only about 17 per cent, the report said.
Public hospitals have since mainly relied on profits from medical services and drug prescriptions for their operating expenses.
This profit-driven method of management has meant 'heavy burdens on patients and led to a waste of medical resources', Mr Chen said. 'We aim to cut hospitals' involvement with drug sales to cut drug prices, medical supply prices and physical check-up fees.'
The reforms will be rolled out in several cities as part of a three-year pilot programme, the report said. Mr Chen did not give the number or names of the cities involved but said the programme is expected to be the basis for the nationwide plan.
The plan calls for the government to provide subsidies for public hospital infrastructure, medical equipment, academic research, the training of doctors, and health costs for retirees.
The report did not give any cost figures.
The central government will also support construction of about 2,000 county-level hospitals over the next three years, with work scheduled to start this year. The goal is to ensure each county has at least one hospital operating at national standards, the Health Ministry said.
The plan for public hospitals is only one part of China's long-awaited medical reform programme. Other areas to be reformed are medical insurance, basic medical services and public health services.
The Chinese government has been debating health-care reform since 2006. A draft issued last year by the National Development and Reform Commission was criticised for being too general.
