China had 195 hospitals run by minority ethnic groups by the end
of 2005, according to an official with the State Administration of
Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The hospitals, run by 15 ethnic groups including Tibetan,
Mongolian, Uygur and Dai, offered treatment to 4.27 million persons
last year, She Jing, director of the State Administration of
Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at an ethnic medical work
conference on Friday.
Statistics showed that the average spending for an outpatient at
the hospitals is 36.8 yuan (US$ 4.6) and that for an inpatient
1,493 yuan (US$ 186.6), accounting for only one third for a
patient's spending in a comprehensive hospital.
Departments using traditional ethnic therapies have also been
set up in hospitals and clinics in areas mainly inhabited by ethnic
minorities, said She, also deputy health minister.
China's central government has allocated more 73 million yuan
(US$ 9.1 million) to improve conditions of hospitals run by ethnic
minorities over the last five years.
China has 55 minority ethnic groups. The dominant ethnic group
is Han, taking up more than 90 percent of China's 1.3 billion
population.
(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2006)