Chinese health system's ills need to be treated

I have never been a fan of expat views, foreign faces offering "wisdom" to problems we seldom understand in the world's most populous nation. But let me share what I witnessed at Beijing's Children's Hospital late last year and encourage every participants of the two sessions to visit the hospital before considering the vast span of medical proposals before them.

The scene was heartbreaking. Stone-faced parents holding barely conscious children wait in line to see a doctor. Some do their best to remain strong and help each other. Others overtly devastated, holding their head in both hands as they unleash a heavy sigh, unable to mask their worry.

Many have traveled more than 1,000 kilometers to the capital, spending and borrowing every yuan that could be scraped together in the hope of getting quality medical attention not available in the vast swaths of China's rural heartlands.