Medical care reform: making it easier to see a doctor

Bai Yansong, a famous anchor of China Central Television, says the draft is characteristic of its "obscure language, academic expressions and emptiness in substantial content".

Observers are more concerned of the new plan's effectiveness.

Liao Xinbo, deputy director of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Health, says the draft has no new highlights as compared with the guiding policy in 1997, and that it does not touch on the key issues of unbalanced distribution of medical resources and mounting personal expenditure. The crux of the problem, according to him, is the insufficient government funding.

Echoing his words, the total health expenditure by the government made up 4.76 percent of GDP in 2006, seeing a noticeable decline from 5.33 percent in 2000.

"Insufficient government funding will result in the disorientation of public health institutions and inadequate provision of medical service for the public," he writes.

But Gu Xin, a professor of government management from Peking University, voices concerns that the government-dominated plan, if approved, would return China's public health service back to the planned economy, which might "consolidate the power of bureaucracy and create a hotbed for corruption."

For the Guizhou farmer Song, messages sent by the drafted plan may be felt in years ahead. "My only hope is that I will not be tormented by serious illness any more." (By Gong Yidong, China Features)

Editor:Liu