Minister: Health system in poor state
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-08-07 08:41

China has failed to provide adequate health care to most of its citizens and the national health system is unable to properly cope with large-scale epidemics and diseases, Chinese health minister Gao Qiang said in a report shown on the ministry's official website.

In a 11-page report, Health Minister Gao Qiang detailed a list of serious problems plaguing the sector and expressed concerns about its ability to deal with unexpected crises.

Gao blamed many of China's health crises, including the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), on its ineffective healthcare system, due mainly to insufficient government spending.

"The spread of SARS in 2003 has exposed the backwardness of our country's health sector... and its inadequacy in dealing with emergency public health problems," Gao said in the report.

SARS emerged in China in late 2002 and spread globally to infect more than 8,000 people and kill some 800 worldwide, including 349 in China.

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