Improving health services
7/11/2003 18:17
[Shanghai community medical service in steady development]
(Shanghai
Health Bureau November 3, 2003)
Guided by the Shanghai Party Committee
and the Shanghai Municipal Government which have continued to adjust the layout
and functions of local primary care, local community medical service has
steadily improved.
1. History of the Shanghai community medical service
1.1 Framework establishment
With guidance and help from the local
municipal government and the industrial medical associations after 1949 when the
People's Republic of China was founded, private doctors in Shanghai established
a 'united clinic' of their own accord. In the 1950s, the united clinic was
formed into sub-district hospitals or village- and town-based medical
institutes, according to the geographic divisions of different sub-districts,
villages and towns. In order to improve the local disease prevention and
health-care network and enlarge the coverage of primary care institutes, local
sub-district, village and town-based primary care facilities were required to be
in charge of the disease prevention and health-care work in the city. Since they
were founded, therefore, the sub-district, village and town-based primary care
institutes in Shanghai have been taking the responsibilities of local disease
prevention and health-care with the fundamental framework of local community
medical services established in the 1950s. Local primary care facilities have
made tremendous efforts to create new services such as establishing family
practice settings and offering a medical care visiting service.
As the
Shanghai population began aging in the late 70s, in the 1980s, some sub-district
hospitals began to focus on health-care work for senior citizens and to develop
new medical services. The Shanghai Health Bureau chose four sub-district
hospitals for experiments. The Yanzhong sub-district hospital of Jing'an
District, one of the four, investigated overall health for all the local
elderly, and worked out supervisory health-care measures especially for the
elderly group. Their community medical care work for the senior citizens has won
high praise from the World Health Organization (WHO), and the WHO Shanghai
medical health-care cooperative center for the elderly was founded. Other
sub-district hospitals then learned from Yanzhong to start such
services.
1.2 Rapid development in 1990s
The community medical
services in Shanghai have made faster development since the 1990s.
1991 to
1994: following the requirements of the Shanghai Party Committee and Shanghai
Municipal Government, all the local sub-districts established 'community service
centers', mainly providing health services. Offering medical services is the
main prerequisite to being recognized as a civilized social community.
1994:
a work conference on sub-district hospitals was held in Shanghai, requiring
medical workers in sub-district hospitals to leave the hospitals, go deep into
neighborhood committees and be in close contact with local households to offer
close medical services to residents, and consolidate supervision and management
on family practice settings and visiting services. Such services were warmly
hailed by local residents.
1997: the Shanghai Municipal Government listed
the community medical service as one of the main tasks for the
residents.
1997-1998: all the local sub-district hospitals and village or
town-based medical institutes established 240 community medical service
outlets
1999: Shanghai built ten standardized hospitals for the elderly
2000: all the sub-district hospitals in local downtown areas were
transformed into community medical service centers, with 20 model centers
founded.
2000-2001: standardized construction was completed for community
medical service centers in local downtown areas.
2003: Shanghai started
standardized construction to transform the village or town-based medical
institutes into community medical service centers, with the work expected to be
completed by 2005
Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily
news
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