Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 15-Oct-2008 00:08 hrs
A medical technician at a Beijing medical clinic. China unveiled details Tuesday of a long-awaited overhaul of its struggling healthcare system, aiming to provide affordable basic care for all by 2020.
China unveiled details Tuesday of a long-awaited overhaul of its struggling healthcare system, aiming to provide affordable basic care for all by 2020.
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China's main economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, outlined the plans on its website, saying it wanted to launch a public debate and inviting people to comment by November 14.
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The project aims to "create a basic healthcare system covering both urban and rural citizens, offering the population services that are safe, efficient, convenient and affordable," the Commission's website said.
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The plan calls for greater health funding from local and national government and stricter price controls on drugs in public hospitals.
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Until the 1980s, most Chinese citizens had access to cheap healthcare, but the system was broken up in the 1980s under the country's economic reform policies.
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That led to an increase in the cost of healthcare and drugs, and to an increasing divide in access to treatment.
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Recent cases of patients dying because they could not afford treatment have highlighted the inadequacies of the current system, and provoked strong criticism. — AFP
