Starting in 1997, the government started to push for community health services, which emphasizes public health management for residents instead of medical treatment, with community health centers and their affiliated clinics as the major providers.

By the year 2002 there were 2,406 community health service centers and 9,726 affiliated clinics set up throughout the country, according to the Ministry of Health.

The community health service network has basically taken shape in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, and Jinan in Shandong Province.

Most of the community health centers once were grassroots medical organizations, such as the street hospitals run by local government, the hospitals and outpatients departments affiliated to companies and institutions, as well as school hospitals in universities and colleges.

Their functions cover medical treatment, disease prevention, healthcare, rehabilitation, health education, and family planning as a whole

"We still need time to develop the whole procedure, though preferential policies for community health centers have all been worked out," said Liu Liqun with the community health department at the Ministry of Health.

Now limited by insufficient subsidies from the government, the community health centers and their affiliated clinics still focus most of their efforts on medical treatment. But Liu believes the government will gradually increase funding as community health service expands.

(China Daily December 18, 2003)