Preventive healthcare initiatives feature largely in the
blueprint for China's medical reform, a key official closely
involved in the policymaking revealed.
Ge Yanfeng, deputy chief of the social development research
department under the Development Research Center of the State
Council, made the remarks on Monday at the one-day Summit of the
Pacific Health Forum held in Beijing.
"The most urgent issue is how to make the prevention-oriented
healthcare approach become a reality, and how to efficiently
persuade Chinese citizens and medical institutions to be more
proactive about health issues," Ge told China Daily.
Ge said the proposal was still at an early stage.
However, he urged the government to invest more in the health
sector and offer more free health services to prevent diseases.
Most preventive medical measures are not presently covered by
the umbrella of health insurance.
Many costly and disabling conditions - cardiovascular diseases,
cancer, and diabetes - are linked to preventable risk factors,
according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which highly
recommends member countries integrate prevention medical services
into public healthcare.
"For that, the government is obliged to extend support with
favorable policies and systems," Ge said, adding the current
medical system was unable to achieve that goal effectively since
most hospitals are more "business or market-orientated".
Currently, the government only subsidizes a mere 5 percent of
the actual running costs of public or State-owned hospital, a major
source for medical care.
As a result, some hospitals have reportedly "cashed in" on
patients by over-prescribing drugs and ordering unnecessary medical
checks for patients.
"The government is aware of that and is working to revamp the
system, which in fact conflicts with public health," Ge said.
(China Daily October 17, 2007)