China specifies program on construction of rural health service system
2/3/2006 15:13
According to an executive meeting of the State Council, the forming and
implementation of the program will be taken as a primary governmental step in
gradually improving the health service conditions in rural areas and the
country's capabilities to that effect so that the health service for the farmers
may be lifted gradually and effectively.
Chinese governments at all levels
should put the development of the health service in rural areas atop their
working agendas and view it as a major task in the construction of a new
socialist countryside, said the meeting.
according to some experts, the
construction of the new socialist countryside is an essential requirement for
building a harmonious socialist society, achieving social fairness and justice
and making the benefits of economic and social development available to all
people.
Medical and health services in rural areas, the meeting said, can
hardly meet the basic health needs of the farmers.
"It has become a problem
facing the country's current economic and social development process," it
said.
The meeting pointed out that the construction should be based on the
real conditions of different rural areas and adhere to the principles of
increasing investment and deepening related reforms.
The State Council
pledged to, by 2010, establish a rural health service network with a basically
complete infrastructure, a professional rural service force and an effectively
operating management system which could ensure farmers enjoy primary health care
services.
A major job the country should do during the implementation of the
program, the meeting said, is to set up a mechanism to safeguard the steady
investment in rural health projects, in which both central and local governments
should be encouraged to participate in.
The reform of the rural health
service management mechanism should be deepened, it said.
Resources of
county-level health institutions should be further integrated and the layout of
township clinics be readjusted accordingly, it said.
More effective ways of
running rural health service may be explored and social forces and individuals
encouraged to take part in the service, it said.
According to the meeting,
the country will train, guide and encourage more health workers and college
students to seek jobs in rural clinics and organize medical staff from urban
hospitals to offer services or technological guidance for those in the
countryside.
With all the measures, the meeting said, "the farmers can expect
safe, effective, convenient and low-cost health service."
Xinhua
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