Hospital treatment is expensive to ordinary Chinese and about 48.9 percent of them choose not to go to hospital when ill, according to China's third survey of health care service revealed in Beijing Thursday.

The survey said 29.6 percent give up hospitalization because of expensive medical fees.

A medical bill scandal involving treatment costs as high as 10 million yuan (US$1.23 million) for a patient in a northeast China's Harbin hospital has been drawing attention and criticism from the public recently.

China launched a reform of the public health care system and expanded the decision-making power of hospitals in 1985.

However, government investment in this area has been gradually reduced.

Since 1992, special medical services, including better nursing and luxurious wards, have emerged as marketization increasingly dominates health care reform in China.

Currently, of China's total medical fees, the government's input only accounts for 15 percent and 60 percent is paid by patients themselves, sources with the Chinese Ministry of Health said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2005)