--- SEARCH ---
WEATHER
CHINA
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
CULTURE
GOVERNMENT
SCI-TECH
ENVIRONMENT
SPORTS
LIFE
PEOPLE
TRAVEL
WEEKLY REVIEW
Learning Chinese
Learn to Cook Chinese Dishes
Exchange Rates
Hotel Service
China Calendar


Hot Links
China Development Gateway
Chinese Embassies


Official: Medicare Reform Not Market-driven

China's medicare reform is not market-driven, but has to be led by the government, according to health officials.

China is in need of establishing a government-led medicare system, supplemented by market economics through reforms, said Liao Xinbo, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Department, at a national annual meeting on private hospital management held in Guangzhou on June 19.

Unlike the United States and other richer nations, where annual average per capita medicare spending can be as much as US$5,000, China cannot load its people with such a heavy burden. Liao said, adding that China's per capita gross domestic product or GDP is only about US$1,000.

Liao suggested that China use Britain and Canada as examples of how a national healthcare system could work.

Hospital reform in China, which started in 2000 and which entailed privatizing hospitals, was described as the government's ridding itself of a burden, acknowledged Yu Zonghe, former director of the Department of Medical Administration under the Ministry of Health (MOH).

But Yu added that privately-run hospitals place more importance on profit-making than actual medical treatment. This does not help in bringing cheaper and more accessible medical treatment to the people.

Which is why the MOH started regulating the reform by stressing that medicare services are public welfare services and should be directed by the government, according to the vice minister of the MOH Ma Xiaowei.

"Medical and health work is a matter of life and health of the people, and unlike enterprises, its reform has to be guided by government instead of market," Ma said recently.

Liao believes that this shift in reform ideal implies that the MOH has become more cautious about privatization.

"We have reminded those who fund private hospitals of possible policy changes," said Zhao Chun, who in charge of the private sector under the Chinese Hospital Management Society.

Chen Tingliang, president of privately-funded Ren'ai Hospital in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, acknowledged that he is now hesitatant when it comes to increasing investment in the hospital. "I will wait and see," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2005)

Medicare to Cost Migrant Workers Less
Guangzhou Gov't Hospital Goes Private
Medicare Scheme to Cover More Farmers
Social Security Needs Reform
Funds to Improve Rural Medicare
Poverty-Stricken Women in Shanghai Enjoy Special Medicare
Free Medicare Programme Launched
Key Points Highlighted in Medical Insurance Reform
Print This Page
|
Email This Page
About Us SiteMap Feedback
Copyright © China Internet Information Center. All Rights Reserved
E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-68326688