The government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has offered medical assistance to 4.75 million people with financial difficulties since 2006, a spokesman with the regional civil affairs department said Sunday.

A pilot program of medical assistance for urban residents was launched in 27 counties and cities in 2006, which was then adopted throughout the region in the following year, the spokesman said.

All the counties and cities in the region have also formulated similar programs for the rural population.

In some areas, patients are now able to get medical assistance before they are hospitalized, which is of great help for those in abject poverty, the spokesman said.

The regional government had spent 520 million yuan (76.1 million U.S. dollars) in medical assistance as of June this year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2009)