Grassroots community clinics do not just provide basic healthcare services, they also cultivate the health awareness of ordinary residents and are the foundation for the overall healthcare standard of the nation. Their sound performance makes a difference to the overall reform of the healthcare system.

That explains why the State Council convened a meeting on Monday to discuss how to establish a permanent mechanism for governments at all levels to provide community healthcare clinics with the necessary funding so that they can fulfil their role to the satisfaction of residents.

In the 14 months since August last year, 50 percent of the community clinics nationwide have adopted the basic medicine system. That means they do not earn a penny from the medicines the doctors prescribe to patients. This has made patients' medical bills much cheaper. Yet, at the same time, the clinics have met with financial difficulties and are in dire need of financial aid.

It is sensible for the State Council meeting to make the decision that governments at all levels must make up for the deficits community clinics have suffered. This is because the community clinics are irreplaceable.

For example, in Yuhang district of Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, the local government sold all its 28 township clinics to private operators as almost all of them were loss making at the time. These private clinics developed into drug stores that only sold medicines for profit and none of them provided any kind of public healthcare service. Because of their higher-than-ordinary drug prices local residents preferred to travel long distances to district hospitals.

In October this year, the district repurchased these clinics at three times the money and turned them into public community clinics. As well as providing basic medical services, the clinics also undertake disease prevention and control, healthcare publicity, rehabilitation and family planning.

This example indicates that community clinics are important and their role as the basic public healthcare provider cannot be replaced by private hospitals, at least not at present.

What is noteworthy about the State Council meeting is that it requires reform should be carried out to establish a competitive mechanism in these clinics so that doctors can be motivated to do a better job.

Local governments should realize that these clinics will not necessarily become a burden as long as they can provide quality healthcare service. If they are trusted and welcomed by local residents, it is not impossible for them to strike a balance between providing a public service and making profits.

That is the way forward.