Cooperative Medical Service Benefits Rural Tibetans

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 02, 2003

Cooperative Medical Service Benefits Rural Tibetans

Burgeoning cooperative medical service in rural China has greatly eased the pressure of poverty-stricken Tibetan farmers, for whom a major headache is the thought of "going to the hospital".

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Burgeoning cooperative medical service in rural China has greatly eased the pressure of poverty-stricken Tibetan farmers, for whom a major headache is the thought of "going to the hospital".

The service was officially initiated by the Ministry of Health,and allows farmers to pay only part of their medical costs while the community they belong to pays the rest.

Statistics released by the health department of the Tibet Autonomous Region reveals that by 2002, some 1.5681 million people,or 74.26 percent of the local rural population, had joined in the cooperative medical service which is now available in the region's654 villages or townships and 70 counties.

Director Aden of the health department said that the regional government has mapped out detailed plans on the expansion of ruralhospitals, epidemic prevention stations and clinics.

Thus far, official investment of 120 million yuan (about 14.46 million US dollars) has been allotted to the establishment of 115 new village clinics and the expansion of 65 county-level medical service centers, he said.

Meanwhile, the combined mortality rates for Tibetan women and children and that for infants have dwindled from the 436.39 per hundred thousand and 55.21 per thousand in 1996 to the 401.4 per hundred thousand and 29.3 per thousand in 2002.

China's cooperative medical service was first started in the 1950s but underwent a period of decline after 1979 as wide-rangingreforms have been launched across the country.

During the decline, some rural families became impoverished when a family member became seriously ill. To deal with the situation, the Chinese government has doubled its efforts to update rural medical facilities and attach much more attention to the needy group.

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