Health Minister: state hospitals reform top the health care reform

China plans to have 90 percent population covered by the basic health care system by 2011. It will also raise the maximum reimbursement standard for serious diseases, to about 90 thousand yuan, 6 times the average income. This will go a long way towards covering serious diseases like childhood leukemia.

To curb rocketing medicine prices, the country will expand the basic catalogue of most-prescribed drugs. Patients can get reimbursed for medicines on the list, and no profit should be added to the price.

Chen Zhu said reform in the public hospitals is the key part of the reform. Top priorities should be to treat the ill and save lives instead of making money.

To curb the practice of expensive prescriptions for profit, government will invest 850 billion yuan, or 123 billion US dollars by 2011 to provide universal medical service to the country's 1.3 billion population.

In addition to creating a comprehensive basic health care system, the country plans to set up personal medical charts, and carry out various medical education campaigns. The government will also implement programs targeting specific diseases, like tuberculosis and Aids.

Editor:Liu Anqi