China’s medical reform in the past ten years has significantly eased the financial burdens for patients, according to the National Health Commission.
At a media conference on Friday, the commission said that the country’s medical and healthcare system reform had proceeds.
It said that the percentage of personal expenditure in China’s total medical and healthcare expenditure had dropped from 34.3 per cent in 2012 to 27.7 per cent today.
“To increase people’s access to quality and reasonably-priced medical services, the country has taken a number of measures.
“For instance, the country has carried out several centralised bulk-buying programs for drugs and high-value medical consumables.’’
The programs have successfully brought down medical costs for patients and have so far helped save about 300 billion yuan (44.43 billion U.S. dollars) in medical insurance costs and patients’ expenditures.
Xinhua/NAN
