China is taking bigger and broader steps in an effort to reform the country's health-care system.
The State Council issued a new guideline on Monday, May 17, that aims for nationwide medical reform by 2017. China has more than 6,800 public hospitals. It's an ambitious project, staggering in scale compared to the State Council's plans to initiate medical reform on public hospitals across 17 Chinese cities back in 2010.
According to the guideline, public hospitals across the country must implement a reasonable drug pricing system to ensure that patients have access to medicine. Improvement in recruitment and salary policies should also be prioritized to provide better services.
A modern hospital management system, standard referral procedures, and the elimination of drug-price-added profits are also included in the guideline.
The State Council hopes to improve the state of medical services in the country through the new legislation. Reform, the guideline stated, must be started at the grassroots-level for everybody to access basic public health services.
Unfortunately, most public hospitals in China heavily rely on medicine sales to augment their income. Instead of providing basic health care, some medical institutions are focusing on lucrative gains.
The newly issued guideline is expected to bring about progress in China's reform of the health-care system, which began in 2009.
Other stipulations stated in the guideline include the optimal distribution of medical resources, price regulation of drugs and medical services, and the establishment of a scientific subsidy mechanism.
The guideline also emphasized that public hospitals should improve policies and strengthen supervision to effectively and equally implement social medical care.