Premier Wen reveals 5 directions for healthcare reform

Premier Wen Jiabao said on the 28th in response to questions from netizens, health care reform is a worldwide problem, in China, a large country with a population of 1.3 billion people, to solve the health care reform is really not an easy thing, we are determined to promote health care reform shows that the government puts the people’s health at heart. Wen Jiabao told a story he personally experienced. He said: “A few years ago I was on a business trip in Changchun and went to a hospital to inspect it, at that time the doctors also talked to me about many of their ideas, I told them, I said, you must have a good attitude towards the patients, I know that it is not easy for you, you are a positive force in the reform of the health care system, if you have any complaints and dissatisfaction then, send them to me, but do not send them to the patients. ” Wen Jiabao said, our next health care reform mainly intends to do five things: First, to expand the coverage of urban and rural medical insurance. There are roughly three types of urban and rural medical insurance: 1) medical insurance for urban workers; 2) medical insurance for urban residents; and 3) a new cooperative medical system for rural areas. Now the coverage of the New Rural Cooperative Medical System has basically reached 90%, the urban workers’ insurance has not really been realized in some of the difficult enterprises, and the most difficult one is the urban one old, one small, one disabled, that is, the urban residents’ medical insurance. At present, the coverage of urban medical insurance is still not high; we will increase our investment and strive to make the coverage of these three types of medical insurance reach 90% in three years’ time. Second, we will establish a basic drug system. That is to say, we will take the urgent medicines needed by the public for common diseases as basic medicines, and stipulate their prices, standards and reimbursement levels, so that everyone can afford to see a doctor and take medicines. Third, we have further strengthened the construction of the medical service system. We have already carried out the construction of medical centers in 29,000 township health stations across the country, and we intend to complete the construction of such centers this year. We plan to complete the construction of 5,000 central township health centers, 2,000 county hospitals and 2,400 urban community health centers within three years. Fourth, the equalization of the medical service system will be strengthened. The main thing is to increase the level of per capita medical and health protection, especially the level of public funding. Fifthly, I think the most difficult, and also the most important, is the reform of public hospitals. Because this reform involves many hospitals in both urban and rural areas, we have no experience and need to conduct pilot projects, but for all these five reforms, the direction we must adhere to is public health care, which must adhere to the nature of public welfare.