(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-16 20:37

The MOH reported in 2004 that 156 million rural people were participating in the new rural cooperative medical care network.

Fast forward to March this year and the NDRC claimed that 2,319 counties, or 81.03 percent of China's total, and 85.7 percent of rural Chinese are under the cooperative umbrella.

From 1965 to 1976 when the Chinese economy was strictly centralized, the national medical care system covered all urban and rural residents from cradle to grave. The economic restructuring since the late 1970s changed the cover-all mechanism and left many people, particularly the urban poor and rural people, with no assistance.

Rising medical costs have become a major concern in China and upset many rural residents. In order to tackle complaints about limited access to medicine, the government began to increase funding for health care in rural areas and launched the rural cooperative medical care system in 2003 after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In the first quarter of 2007, the NDRC said, about 5.2 billion yuan was reimbursed to 74 million rural people.

The NDRC said efforts will also be made to strengthen the urban community health service this year. The government will supply, according to the 11th five-year (2006-2010) national health development outline, every 30,000 to 100,000 urbanites with one community health service center. About 5,000 community health service centers and 18,000 smaller stations have been set up so far.

"The framework of a community health service system has been molded," said Ministry of Health official Jin Shengguo.

The government is expected to release its final plan on medical reform late this year, China Business News reported.

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