China had 195 hospitals run by minority ethnic groups by the end of 2005, according to an official with the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The hospitals, run by 15 ethnic groups including Tibetan, Mongolian, Uygur and Dai, offered treatment to 4.27 million persons last year, She Jing, director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at an ethnic medical work conference on Friday.

Statistics showed that the average spending for an outpatient at the hospitals is 36.8 yuan (US$ 4.6) and that for an inpatient 1,493 yuan (US$ 186.6), accounting for only one third for a patient's spending in a comprehensive hospital.

Departments using traditional ethnic therapies have also been set up in hospitals and clinics in areas mainly inhabited by ethnic minorities, said She, also deputy health minister.

China's central government has allocated more 73 million yuan (US$ 9.1 million) to improve conditions of hospitals run by ethnic minorities over the last five years.

China has 55 minority ethnic groups. The dominant ethnic group is Han, taking up more than 90 percent of China's 1.3 billion population.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2006)