China unveils health-care reform guidelines

Source: Xinhua | 04-07-2009 08:20

By Xinhua writers Yuan Ye, Jiang Guocheng

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China Monday unveiled a blueprint for health-care over the next decade, kicking off a much-anticipated reform to fix the ailing medical system and to ensure fair and affordable health services for all 1.3 billion citizens.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, or China's Cabinet, jointly endorsed and issued the Guidelines on Deepening the Reform of Health-care System after about three years of intense debate and repeated revision.

By 2020, the world's most populous country will have a basic health-care system that can provide "safe, effective, convenient and affordable" health services to urban and rural residents, according to the tone-setting document.

This will be supplemented by a more detailed implementation plan for the three years until 2011. The plan has yet to be published, but the State Council announced earlier this year an investment plan of 850 billion yuan (124 billion U.S. dollars) fo rthe reform in three years.

The core principle of the reform is to provide basic health care as a "public service" to the people, which requires much more government funding and supervision.