White paper on medical and health services in China

Editor's note: The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China on Wednesday published a white paper on the medical and health services in China. Following is the full text:

Medical and Health Services in China

Information Office of the State Council

The People's Republic of China

December 2012, Beijing

Foreword

Good health is a prerequisite for promoting all-round development of people. And it is a common pursuit of human societies to improve people's health and ensure their right to medical care. For China, a large developing country, medical and healthcare is of vital importance to its population of over 1.3 billion, and is a major issue concerning its people's well being.

China pays great attention to protecting and improving its people's health. As the Constitution stipulates, "The state develops medical and health services, promotes modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine..., all for the protection of the people's health." Based on this constitutional stipulation, China has put in place a complete system of laws and regulations concerning medical and health services.

Over the years, China has worked hard to develop its medical and health services with Chinese characteristics in accordance with the policy of "making rural areas the focus of our work, putting disease prevention first, supporting both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, relying on science, technology and education, and mobilizing the whole society to join the efforts, improving people's health and serving socialist modernization." Thanks to unremitting efforts that have been made, medical and healthcare systems covering both urban and rural residents have taken shape, the capabilities of disease prevention and control have been enhanced, the coverage of medical insurance has expanded, continuous progress has been made in medical science and technology, and the people's health has been remarkably improved.

To put into place basic medical and healthcare systems covering both urban and rural residents, and ensure that every resident has access to safe, effective, convenient and affordable basic medical and health services, China has kept advancing the reform of its medical and healthcare system, and made important achievements in the current stage.