Interview: China's medical reform to elevate public health to higher level

BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- China will deepen its reform in the medical and healthcare sector, striving to bring the main health indicators of its residents to the level of high-income countries by 2035, according to Lei Haichao, head of China's National Health Commission.

In an interview with Xinhua, Lei said the reform is aimed at delivering high-quality, efficient, and equitable health services to the public. He added that a health-first strategy will be implemented, as outlined in a key reform resolution recently adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

According to Lei, developing a tiered diagnosis and treatment system is crucial for improving healthcare access for the public. To achieve this, the commission has proposed detailed plans to increase the availability of quality medical resources and ensure these resources are directed toward the community level and more evenly distributed across regions.

According to the commission's plan, efforts will be made to channel high-quality medical resources to the country's central, western, and northeastern regions, Lei said.

He added that within each provincial-level region, medical resources should be directed to densely populated cities. Noting that China currently boasts 125 regional medical centers in 29 provincial-level regions, he said that these centers are expected to enhance their influence in the surrounding areas, and future centers should be strategically located in populous cities below the provincial capital level.

According to Lei, building tightly-knit medical consortia is crucial for extending higher-level resources to the community level. Each community-level healthcare institution should have at least one medical staff member from higher-level hospitals assigned to it to ensure seamless coordination and integrated operations.

Lei noted that out of China's 4.95 million community-level health workers, 1.1 million are based in rural areas. The commission is currently collaborating with other departments to implement preferential policies that encourage more medical graduates to work at the community level.

Speaking about the reform of public hospitals, which is also mentioned in the resolution, Lei said efforts will be made to ensure that public hospitals better serve the public interest.

Lei noted that the commission also plans to strengthen the public health system to better prepare for emerging infectious diseases, enhance the development of traditional Chinese medicine, roll out more supportive policies for childbirth, and improve care for women, children, and the elderly, among other endeavors to promote public health.