Wang Longde, vice-minister of health, said that his ministry had nearly completed the drafting of guidelines for rural medical reform.

He quoted Vice-Premier Li Lanqing as asking the Ministry of Health to finish the work by the end of the first quarter of this year.

“The guidelines are expected to be unveiled at the end of this year, when the reforms will be kicked off across the nation,” Wang said.

He also revealed that a long-term blueprint for a rural medical care system was being drawn up for the 2001-10 period.

The reforms are considered essential given that many of the country’s more than 900 million farmers still have poor medical services and the reform of the rural medical system has lagged far behind that in urban areas.

The country began pushing ahead with medical reforms in urban areas last year.

Dong Qinjun, a member of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said it was high time for the government to address the problem of scarce medical resources for farmers, who account for 75 percent of the country’s total population.

He blamed the problem on the unfair distribution of medical resources across the country.

Statistics suggest that 80 percent of China’s medical resources, including hospitals and medical workers, are in the cities.

In 1998, city dwellers spent three times more per capita on medical services than farmers.

By the end of last June, 60 percent of the urban population had old-age pensions and medical care programs, compared with a meager 15 percent of the rural population.

Wang said the reforms will aim to establish a sound rural medical service system by optimizing the allocation of medical resources and adjusting the distribution of medical institutions.

He also said a set of preferential policies will be introduced to encourage medical workers to go to rural areas.

(China Daily 03/14/2001)