Much-anticipated health-care plan put out for public consultation
The mainland unveiled the long-awaited health-care reform plan for public consultation yesterday after two years of intense debate and bargaining among government departments.
The central government declared three years ago that its medical system had failed and pledged to reform the ailing system to ensure medical services were no longer difficult to access and unaffordable for the public.
The plan focuses on the effort to provide equal access to basic health-care services - primary medical services and disease prevention provided at the community level - for urban and rural dwellers alike.
By 2010, the government is hoping to have 90 per cent of city and rural residents covered by some sort of medical insurance scheme and 80 per cent of the grass-roots clinics covered by the supply of basic medicine under government price controls.
The government plans to build a network of community level clinics in rural areas and cities and expand government-funded services to cover disease prevention, vaccination, mother and infant care, as well as health education.