China to promote medical partnership trials in 2017

2017-04-14
Xinhua

China will launch various trials on partnerships between top-tier hospitals and grassroots medical institutions in order to provide better health care services, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said on April 14.

An institutional framework for such partnerships will be formed and various types of trials will be rolled out this year, Wang Hesheng, vice minister of the commission, said at a regular press briefing.

The move is meant to ensure more balanced allocation of medical resources across medical centers at different levels and make quality medical care more accessible to the wider public, especially in less-developed areas.

Currently, high-quality medical resources are mostly located in big cities. By 2016, medical institutions partnerships had been established in 205 cities across the country.

Wang said the commission will encourage personnel exchange, salary distribution and information sharing in partnerships.

Efforts will also be made to develop a collaboration network on distance health care for remote and poor regions, as well as to introduce demand-oriented and contract-based family doctors, Wang said.