NewsMed - China to improve health care for rural residents

China's rural residents make up around 60% of its huge 1.4 billion population. Currently, rural residents have a lack of healthcare unlike urban residents which have better access to healthcare services and reimbursements.

At the recent opening of the nation's annual parliament session, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's announced his plan to improve health care aims to help hundreds of millions of the nation's poorest, especially in rural areas. Wen told legislators that the government would this year expand a medical insurance scheme, which is aimed at covering every rural resident by 2008.

The government will allocate an additional 4.2 billion yuan (520 million dollars) into the program, which was launched in 2003 in some areas. Over 40 percent of China's counties will be covered under the scheme this year, with the government to double its contribution to 40 yuan for each farmer, Wen said. The government will also spend more than 20 billion yuan over the next five years renovating hospital buildings in rural towns and counties and upgrading their equipment.

China's overall health care expenditures amounted to just 5.5 percent of GDP in 2004. China's Health Minister Gao Qiang told state media last month that this ratio is not only far lower than developed countries, but is lower than most developing countries.

Under the new medical insurance scheme the government is trying to expand, farmers each pay 10 yuan a year for their health insurance, that will cover minor ailments and health services. However, for catastrophic illnesses, reimbursements would likely be difficult to obtain. On top of that, the scheme already faces criticism as it is does not cover all patients' costs and requires farmers to first use rural hospitals, which are often dilapidated.

Overall, this piece of news is good new for most medical device manufacturers as it shows the commitment to development by the Chinese government towards healthcare services. This would also help to grow the market for medical devices in the long run.