Vice Premier Wu Yi said at the weekend that the nation's efforts to build a cooperative healthcare system in rural areas had begun to bear fruit, resulting in improved healthcare, better facilities and lower costs.

Wu made the remarks at a two-day national meeting in Beijing on rural cooperative healthcare. She urged officials at all levels to fully recognize and solve the problems concerning the pilot initiative and said the successes were the result of joint efforts by all related departments.

Under the pilot system, each villager contributes 10 yuan (US$1.25) each year, while the central and local government both contribute 10 yuan (US$1.25) per person, to a fund to reimburse members' medical costs.

In case of illness, a farmer recruited into the network will have part of their medical expenses paid by the fund.

China launched the system July 2003 to enable its 900 million rural residents to receive basic medical services and the government set a deadline of eight years for completion.

In July this year, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao instructed local medical authorities to promote the cooperative healthcare system in rural areas. Pointing out that the reforms could be difficult and complicated, they urged adaptation of methods to suit local conditions.

Each province and autonomous region has selected two or three counties for the trial project and farmers are asked to join the cooperative healthcare program on a voluntary basis.

Despite the achievements, some problems still exist, Wu added. She said some local authorities did not carry out the central government's policies effectively and that the majority of the pilot counties had yet to established a reasonable mechanism for collecting funds from farmers. Some of the funds have also been used improperly.

She urged local governments and officials to solve the existing problems and improve the pilot program to create a good basis for rolling it out nationally.

Northwest China's Qinghai Province began its cooperative healthcare pilot in August 2003. By the end of that year 866,500 people had joined the fund. The province had paid a total of 12.34 million yuan (US$1.5 million) to 91,387 people by September this year.

Niu Huimin, deputy director of Qinghai’s Health Bureau, said that by covering part of their medical expenses the new healthcare system could greatly ease rural people's fear of illness.

In Midu County in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, the healthcare network helped residents save more than 5 million yuan (US$604,595), reported the People's Daily.

According to the White Paper on China's Social Security and Policy, by the end of June the new cooperative healthcare network had been initiated in areas with 95.04 million rural residents, of whom 68.99 million had joined the system.

In contrast to China's fast economic growth in its cities, medical services and people's health in rural areas remain a cause for concern. 

(China Daily October 25, 2004)