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China has 1.51 doctors and 2.45 hospital beds for every 1,000
people. In Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and other large
cities, general traditional Chinese medicine and hospitals
specializing in, for example, cancer, cardio-and cerebro-vascular
disorder, ophthalmology, dentistry and infectious diseases can be
found.? Medium-sized cities throughout China have general and
specialized hospitals with modern facilities. Medical treatment,
disease prevention, and health-care networks have taken shape at
county, township and village levels. With the establishment and
development of health and medical-care organizations and the
gradual spread of good hygiene habits, infectious and parasitic
diseases, formerly the major killers, have been replaced by cancer,
cardio- and cerebro-vascular diseases and creating a mortality
pattern close to that of the developed countries. The health of
urban and rural residents has been greatly improved; the average
life expectancy is now 71.95 years, five more than the world
average.
"Prevention first" is one of the important principles in all
China's health care work. All administrations have created hygiene
and disease-prevention organizations responsible for overall
management of these functions including hygiene and
epidemic-prevention stations, forming a nationwide network of
hygiene supervision and control. In order to eliminate or control
some serious epidemic and local diseases endangering people's
heath, the National People's Congress and State Council issued the
Law on the Prevention and Cure of Infectious Diseases, the National
Plan for Poliomyelitis Elimination by the Year 1995, and National
Outline for IDD Elimination by the Year 2000 and other documents.
Disease prevention work has been further strengthened and made
outstanding achievements.
In May 2003, the State Council issued Regulations on Public
Health Emergencies, establishing a legal framework for tackling
public health crises. Furthering its cooperation with the World
Health Organization, the state is planning significant investment
in a system to handle all public health crises, improving the
responsiveness and capabilities of emergency centers, treatment and
hospital information systems.
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Reform in medical care and changes in the make-up of society have
prompted the spread to most cities of community-based health
services whose major role is anti-epidemic work but which also
provide treatment and healthcare. These popular organizations are
geared to handle at grassroots level problems arising from
increased urbanization, an aging population, changes in disease
patterns and social strata.?
In 2003, China embarked on a new rural cooperative medical care
system. Based on major illness health insurance coverage, the
system is based on a payment plan by the individual, financial
support from the collective, and subsidies from the government. If
farmer who has joined the scheme is hospitalized, incurred costs
can be reimbursed according on a sliding scale. This medical care
system is expected to cover the whole country in 2010. Meanwhile,
China has implemented a medical-aid system for rural areas offering
medical aid to poor farmers who are seriously ill. A standardized
rural medical-aid system had been established throughout the
country by the end of 2005. The fund, with special allocations from
various levels of government with donations from people from all
walks of life, will be used exclusively for medical aid.?