The public hospital reform plan which was supposed to be released last year end has been delayed again because of the complicated affiliations of hospitals and lack of ways to offer compensation, China Business reported.

At a national health conference in January, the party chief of the Ministry of Health announced the delay and said it is because of some "detailed problems".

Responding to news that the compensation mechanism is one of the "detailed problems", Jiao Hong, head of Hubei health bureau, said that the compensations should be well calculated and adequate.

However, central and local governments have different opinions on the issue. Local governments hope the central government will give a concrete road map, while the central government wants local health bureaus to experience first and try a way out.