Hubei raises over $20m and mobilizes major hospitals to boost medical reform

Central China's Hubei province has raised 150 million yuan ($20.6 million) and mobilized 36 major hospitals to help improve service capabilities at 70 county-level medical institutions in recent years as part of efforts to strengthen medical reform, local authorities said.

China has been deepening its healthcare reform and encouraging local governments to learn from the successful reform practices implemented in Sanming, a city in East China's Fujian province, since 2012.

Wang Yunfu, head of the health commission of Hubei, said that local health authorities have also supported regions to address weaknesses in pediatrics and mental health departments, as well as shortcomings in the fields of staffing, income and professional title evaluation.

"At the same time, we have also introduced artificial intelligence to promote smart diagnosis and empowered the healthcare system with digital tools," he said at a news conference held by the National Health Commission in Yichang, Hubei, on Wednesday.

Wang added that Hubei has focused on eight chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes, and build a comprehensive service system covering prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and disease management.

"Through strengthening health education, the health literacy of residents has been improving continuously," he said, adding that 10 measures such as boosting guidance at hospitals and adding home-based hospital beds have been rolled out to bring convenience for the elderly.

"In addition, we have finished preliminary establishment of a 10-minute first aid circle in cities and a 30-minute medical care circle to boost accessibility of medical services for the public," he said.

Yang Jian, Party chief of the Yichang Central People's Hospital, said that the hospital has incorporated AI big models into the whole clinical process to assist doctors in analyzing condition of patients, especially those with cancer.

"The hospital has used its online platform to provide services such as making appointments and delivering medicines to home," he said. "The daily volume of online visits to the platform has reached 7,000 on average."

The hospital has also deployed big data tools to carry out refined monitoring of medical consumables utilization and equipment energy consumption, he added.