Public opinion should be taken seriously when a new medical system reform plan is drafted, says an article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

A report released by the State Council's Development Research Centre in late July that called reforms of the national medical system "basically unsuccessful" has sent shockwaves through the country.

The report says medical institutions have become over commercialized and fail to meet the public's medical needs.

The Ministry of Health, with other government departments, has reportedly begun to outline a new package of reforms.

As a program of modernization that will have an immediate impact on every citizen, every family and on social development as a whole, its drafting should be handled with extreme prudence, with the public's fundamental interests at its core.

It is natural that the public is anxiously awaiting announcements about the new reform plan.

As such, public voices should be noted when the new reform plan is drafted.

If the new reform plan is exclusively outlined by the Ministry of Health and other government departments without wider public deliberation, the final draft's applicability will be in question.

Although the drafting process is likely to move slowly if the reform plan is open to public involvement because of their expected divergent views, it will ensure a firmer basis for the bill.

Compared to swiftly pushing through a problematic reform plan that needs subsequent modifications, a well-considered strategy, though it will take longer, is nevertheless preferable.

We have seen many instances of policies being speedily worked out with little public discussion and then being found to be riddled with problems when implemented. A series of modifications and amendments are made to improve the policy, or it is even redrafted from scratch, wasting both time and resources.

As for the reform of the medical system, which is closely related to public welfare and has a huge bearing on social stability, we cannot afford to make mistakes time and again.

(China Daily August 8, 2005)