The director of Shaanxi Provincial Health Bureau
told a press conference in Xi'an on Monday that poor people and
those who have lost their jobs will enjoy cheaper medical treatment
in seven pilot hospitals from tomorrow.
Li Hongguang said the new policy meant a total of
264 hospital beds would be provided for people with financial
difficulties.
Laid-off workers and disadvantaged migrants will be
among those who receive a 20 percent discount on hospital expenses,
said Li, but this would not affect the quality of medical
services.
To keep costs down doctors are being directed to
only use necessary medicines, Li added, and medical staff are
forbidden from profiting from medicine sales and restricted to
using standard prices.
In Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, one of the
hospitals involved, heart operation costs will be halved for those
with financial difficulties, Gao Jianmin, the hospital's deputy
director, told China Daily.
The Provincial Health Bureau's Information Office
said a complaints box would be set up in the hospital with monthly
analysis of the most used medicines.
Li said that if the measure was successful it would
be introduced to all hospitals in the province, but the lifespan of
the trial was undecided.
"I am very glad to hear the news, but worry if the
measure can be carried out properly," said Liu Xiansheng, a local
resident.
Shaanxi is a northwestern province with 190,000
laid-off workers and 1.2 million rural residents living in
poverty.
It classifies "people with financial difficulties"
as those who earn less than 500 yuan (US$62) per month in urban
areas and those who have a net annual income of no more than 700
yuan (US$87) in rural regions.
(China Daily, China.org.cn November
30, 2005)