BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- China has allocated 47 billion yuan (6.8 billion U.S. dollars) for building 1,390 county-level hospitals since 2016, in a bid to ensure that every county and urban district has at least one county-level hospital, Health News reported.

This is part of the country's efforts to narrow the gap in health services between urban and rural areas.

Traditional Chinese service centers have been set up in more than 30,000 health centers in towns, townships and communities, according to the newspaper.

The standard for the per capita basic public health service subsidy has raised from 25 yuan in 2011 to 55 yuan in 2018, and the number of free services provided by the national basic public health service program has been increasing over the period.

The health inequality index rated by urban and rural residents dropped by 32.5 percent from 2006 to 2016, according to the newspaper.

"The achievement is attributed to the national reforms in the medical and health care system aiming to ensure every citizen has the access to basic health services," Miao Yanqing, a researcher with the health development research center under the National Health Commission, was quoted as saying.