The Chinese government has promised to spend 850 billion yuan (about 123 billion US dollars) by 2011 to overhaul the country’s creaking medical system, which has been a cause of public discontent in the country for some time.
The plan, which received State Council or Cabinet approval on Wednesday, promises to bring 90 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion people under a primary medical insurance scheme that provides a better public health system, “basic medicines”, networks of improved local clinics, and better services in public hospitals, said a report by the state-run news agency Xinhua.
Xinhua reports that the plan was well received by experts and academics, but the public reaction, which was gauged while it was in draft stage, was lukewarm, with many people saying the promises were too vague and full of empty words.
Dean of the School of Public Health of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Cai Renhua, told Xinhua that the plan was “much more specific than the draft”, it had “clear goals and money to be spent”. But he did suggest that the timetable was not sufficiently detailed; it was not clear how the plan would be implemented.
There are reports that the version that was approved on Wednesday had more details about implementation, which will start this year. However, the full text is yet to be published.
China’s health care system suffers from soaring medical costs, a lack of affordable services, poor relations between doctors and patients, and low insurance coverage.
Li Ling, who is a professor at the National School of Development at Peking University, was invited to draft the new plan in 2006. She called the plan a “new year gift” from the government, a sort of “milestone during China’s transition to a modern country”.
She also said that reform of public hospitals lies at the heart of the new plan, which in the past, due to lack of government investment, have operated on profits from medical services and drug prescriptions.
The announcement of multi-billion pound investment in health reform is well timed in view of the current financial crisis and will help to stimulate demand in China’s domestic economy, added Li.
For instance, she pointed out that if people don’t have to worry about expensive medical bills, they will be more prepared to spend money on other things.
Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu said the government will choose a number of cities to trial reforms in public hospitals until 2011.
In the meantime, members of the public remain sceptical. In one day, more than 12,000 comments, some positive but very many negative, were left on a main news channel website. Many of the people writing in complained about high medical fees and poor services.
Renhua said these feelings were understandable: people need to see the detailed benefits, “so far we only know the goals and the principles of the reform”, he told the press.
Many Chinese people want free medical services for all, but Li said this was impossible, “even for developed counties, it is difficult,” she said.
Sources: Xinhua/China Daily.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD