To provide better medical services at reasonable costs, Beijing plans to set up a modern hospital management system this year in addition to introducing other medical reform measures, officials said yesterday.

"Changing the present hospital management system is our priority as medical reform is impossible without an efficient hospital management system," Beijing vice-mayor Ding Xiangyang said at the municipal annual health meeting yesterday.

He said the government will improve the medical service standards, medical staff management system and hospital management model. "The system will be based on the principles of 'safe, effective, convenient and inexpensive' healthcare."

Fang Laiying, Beijing municipal public health bureau chief, said, "The government will scientifically define the responsibilities and rights of a public hospital proprietor and administrator, and probe the corporate governance structure for public hospitals."

Private investment in the city's public health service will be encouraged.

There would be parity in terms of entry requirements, assessment criteria and medical security policy in both public and private hospitals, he said.

Medical institutions around the city will set up a government-predominated system to ensure an adequate supply of quality drugs at a low cost, Fang said.

"Beijing has one of the most efficient hospital services in the country," Zhang Mao, the Communist Party chief of the Ministry of Health, said at the meeting, adding that in terms of medical reform the capital has already set an example for other provinces and cities.

(China Daily March 31, 2009)