Shenzhen city of south China's Guangdong Province will expand community
health center network to cover all the residential communities in
the city by the end of this year, according to the municipal
government's 2007 work agenda on public health released Monday.
More than 70 million yuan (US$9.06 million) will be allocated
from the municipal government budget for the establishment of the
community clinics, each of which will have at least one full-time
general practitioner to attend to the needs of residents, the
Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.
Part of the money will be used to train the doctors to serve in
communities, an unnamed official was quoted by the News as saying.
But the official didn't elaborate on what kind of training will be
given to the community doctors.
The network is aimed at reducing the pressure on the city's many
hospitals.
"Many people went to seek treatment for minor sickness which is
not necessary to go to a hospital in the past, because there wasn't
any community clinic in their neighborhood. It was a waste of
resources for public hospitals, and a waste of time for the
patient," the official said, adding that the newly built network
will improve the efficiency of the health sector.
However, the official didn't say how many additional clinics
will be built, or which communities were uppermost on the
government agenda.
The money is part of the 820 million yuan that the government
will spend on public health and hygiene this year, up 32.2 percent
from last year's budget.
“The increase is the biggest in the government budget, and the
amount will be used to subsidize the city's hospitals,” said the
official, adding that it shows the government's determination to
solve the long-standing complaints about high medical costs voiced
by many residents.
Hospitals have been ordered to reduce fees and lower drug prices
in response to public discontent about "unreasonably high medical
charges," the official said.
(Shenzhen Daily March 21, 2007)