Civil servants bleed health budget

The public health service budget for civil servants in Guangzhou amounts 1.4 billion yuan ($220 million) for a city with 2.1 million rural residents, people.com.cn reported.

The figures, released by the Guangzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, shows the cost of the civil servants account for almost 30 percent of the total five billion yuan health budget for the city this year, while the total expenditure on rural residents is less than 820 million yuan, according to the data from the Bureau of Health in Guangzhou Municipality.

The budget for rural residents just surpasses the civil servants pay at 620 million yuan.

In addition, data shows the budget for both rural and urban residents account for only 52 percent of the total budget for public health service.