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The question that access to proper healthcare is difficult and expensive for rural residents and low-income urbanites was again raised at yesterday's news conference convened by the Ministry of Health.

How to make it easy and cheap for low-income residents to see doctors has been placed on the work agenda by the country's top health administrative department this year. Gao Qiang, minister of health, promised to solve the problem at the national conference on healthcare on Sunday.

Local governments at various levels are required to establish or convert some state-owned hospitals into "low-price" hospitals for rural residents, laid-off workers and low-income urbanites.

Mao Qun'an, spokesman of the ministry, explained that the move was welcomed by those who have been denied access to health care because of high prices. Practice in some places has proved that it is so far an effective method to meet the urgent needs of those low-income patients.

Haidian District in Beijing opened a "low-price" hospital for low-income patients in December. The district government allocates funds for the salaries of the medical workers, while the hospital turns its income over to the coffers of the district health department.

Most of the medical instruments are old ones from big state-owned hospitals, but are still usable. News reports reveal that the hospital is quite popular with migrant workers and low-income urbanites.

This is indeed an option to solve the healthcare problems for low-income residents and efforts by the government in this respect should be appreciated.

But the government should be on guard against the issue that "low-price" hospitals cannot provide quality service. This is because medical workers there get much lower pay than their counterparts in big state-owned hospitals, and also because the instruments are not in good enough condition.

State financial support must be strong enough to meet these requirements.

Another possible consequence is that these hospitals might become another symbol of disparity between rich and poor, which runs contrary to the goal of building a harmonious society and the realization of common prosperity.

Therefore, the government is faced with the question of how to coordinate the relationship between "low-price" hospitals and big state-owned ones.

As far as we know, some big state-owned hospitals make handsome profits and their medical workers are fairly well paid.

If the state could have a policy to divert profits from these big state-owned medical units to those low-price ones for the poor, that would be a way of redistributing medical resources in a fair manner.

That would also be a way to coordinate the relationship between these two types of hospitals.

A survey in 2004 indicated more than 65 percent of urban residents do not enjoy any form of medical insurance and the percentage is as high as 74 percent in rural areas.

Under such circumstances, whatever problems arise, the significance of "low-price" hospitals providing this large proportion of low-income residents with access to basic health care can never be overestimated.

While "low-price" hospitals should be established, efforts need to be made to lower the prices of big state-owned hospitals.

(China Daily January 11, 2006)