He's now responsible for 28 percent of his medical expenses. Previously, he paid only 1.2 percent as government and his employer covered the rest.

But Lu, who handled consumer complaints at Shanghai Tap Water, will be able to put his financial concerns to rest, said Shanghai Trade Union officials.

Lu and more than 200,000 low-income city residents will be able to get discounted - and in some cases free - medical care at the labor group's Shanghai Worker-Favored Hospital that officially opened yesterday after a monthlong trial run.

City government transferred the hospital - previously known as Shanghai Gongyong Hospital that only treated employees of the city Transportation Bureau - to the govern-ment-controlled trade union because it had been unprofitable.

Widening treatment to all city residents while offering low-cost service allows the new incarnation of the hospital - with 292 beds and 388 doctors, nurses and support staffers - to perform a more useful social service while at the same time making money, officials reasoned.

Administrators of the hospital, on Shimen Road in Jing'an District, said it will provide district-level services, second in the city's three-tier system. The services include emergency care, outpatient clinics and surgical departments. Its charges, however, will be 5 percent less than other hospitals in the same class. Fees will be approximately the same as those charged by the smaller neighborhood health centers.

Low-income residents, retirees and people with financially devastating conditions such as leukemia and kidney problems will be eligible for even greater discounts, said hospital officials.

No registration fee is charged. The 200,000 people with city-issued poverty relief cards will have a 10 percent discount on drug prescriptions, said Tang Guocai, trade union deputy director.

"The hospital," said Lu, "really helps me a lot. For my special situation, it is giving me a 30 percent discount."

(Eastday.com 08/14/2001)