Residents of a retirement
home in Shaoyang county, Hunan Province, hold up their newly issued
healthcare insurance cards on Monday.?The local government
decided to extend a nationwide health insurance scheme for farmers
to include retirees.
A pilot version of the long-awaited medical reform plan will be
set up in "selected regions" this year, paving the way for
healthcare "with Chinese characteristics", the Ministry of Health
announced at its annual national conference yesterday.
"The major task this year is to launch pilot versions of key
programs listed in the newly outlined medical reform plan in
selected regions to accumulate experiences before nationwide
implementation," Minister of Health Chen Zhu said.
He did not explain how the regions will be selected or how many
will take part in the pilot scheme.
Chen outlined the reform plan, which aims to provide universal
basic services at reasonable prices, in a report to the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) last month.
Vice-minister of health Gao Qiang said at the gathering
yesterday that the development of the country's healthcare system
will "follow a path with Chinese characteristics".
"Imitating foreign models blindly in medical reforms will only
lead to mistakes," he said.
The scheme's basic concepts include a people-first orientation,
maintaining the nonprofit nature of public medical institutions,
reducing hospitals' involvement in drug sales, increasing
government responsibility and establishing a basic medicare network
for the whole population.
However, the new plan failed to impress some officials present
at the meeting yesterday.
Liao Xinbo, vice-director of Guangdong's health department, said
the new plan is "not very exciting" and not feasible.
He said the call to increase the government's obligations and
input is the most exciting part of the scheme, although coordinated
and detailed plans are needed to make it work.
The plan explains its call for hospitals to gradually reduce
their involvement in drug sales by saying that any loss in revenue
could be offset by government subsidies and "a reasonable rise in
medical service fees".
Many citizens have expressed concern over the latter provision,
fearing larger fees will render the promised cost savings moot.
A netizen going by the alias Tiandadida on a forum on
Sina.com.cn wrote: "I'm afraid that drug prices may not go down,
but medical service fees will surely shoot up."
Medical reform began in 1992 to replace a system under which the
government covered more than 90 percent of people's expenses.
However, soaring medical costs have kept many people mired in
poverty. There are about 400 million people around the country
without any healthcare coverage, according to the Ministry of
Health.
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)
