Experts agree that improvement in community health care twinned
with the urgent establishment of a universal health care system are
key to revamping China's dire health system.
Over 300 senior officials, researchers and representatives from
different sectors of the nation's health care industry gathered at
the Shanghai-based China Europe International Business School for a
conference entitled "New Horizons for China's Medical Reform."
Although the government has continued to inject cash into the
system, its expenditure reaching 66 billion yuan (US$8.25 billion)
in 2003, double the spending in 1998, a common public complaint
remains that seeing a doctor is difficult and expensive.
Regarding future health service models, many speakers at the
forum stressed that accessibility to health services and efficiency
are crux issues.
Shi Guang, a professor at the Ministry of Health's China Health
Economics Institute, said the future health system should be
composed of a primary health care system for basic public health
and medical services, while emergency and critical care would be
handled in secondary and tertiary medical institutes.
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Experts said the government should channel more than 5 percent of
the GDP annual health care outlays on public health services and
government-run hospitals, instead of covering most medical
institutes which can rely more on social support and
investment.
On average, government subsidies account for less than 8 percent
of public hospitals' revenue, leading them to rely on income from
drugs and diagnostics, which results in doctors often
over-prescribing drugs and expensive medical tests.
Dr Henk Bekedam, the WHO's China representative, advised the
nation to follow the European model of family doctors serving as
gatekeepers to residents' health.
(China Daily September 18, 2006)