Report: China plans to issue new medical reform plan in January

The draft, written by a team of officials and experts from 16 departments, including the Ministry of Health and the NDRC, has been criticized as being "too general" and "full of empty principles".

The five new supplementary plans are believed to outline specific measures. Among them, the one on the building of a basic medicine system and reforms of state-run hospitals are the most important, the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

The basic medicine system includes a catalogue of necessary drugs that would be produced and distributed under government control and supervision, according to the draft plan.

The draft plan did not outline clear measures for state-run hospital reform. But it said government should increase funding to public hospitals to improve their services.

Insufficient government funding resulted in deficits for public health institutions, thus opening doors for hospitals to generate their own revenue by raising fees and aggressively selling drugs.

"Reform of state-run hospitals is a very complicated and difficult project," Bai Chong'en, a professor with the Tsinghua University, said.

"I think the government should pilot the reform in some places and then work out a reform plan based on China's realities," he said.

Editor:Liu