Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Medicine and Health System
Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Medicine and Health System
Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Medicine and Health System
March 17, 2009
In order to establish a medicine and health system with Chinese characteristics, realize gradually the goal that basic medicine and health services are for all to share, raise the national health level, we hereby, based on the spirits of the Seventeenth National Congress of the CPC, set forth the following opinions on deepening the reform of the medicine and health system.
I. To fully recognize the importance, urgency and arduousness of deepening the reform of the medicine and health system
Medicine and health undertakings, which involve the health of billions of people and the happiness of numerous households, are major issues in day-to-day life. To deepen the reform of the medicine and health system, to accelerate the development of medicine and health undertakings, to adapt to the increasing need in medicine and health of the people and to raise the health quality of the people are necessary requirements for realizing the scientific development theory and improving the sustainable development of overall coordination of the economy and the society, are important measures for protecting social justice and raising qualify of live of the people, and, are major tasks for establishing a well-off society and constructing a socialist harmonious society.
Ever since the establishment of new China, especially after reform and opening up, the medicine and health undertakings have reached significant accomplishment, a service system covering the medicine and health of cities and towns has been basically formed, the capacity in protecting from diseases has been increasing constantly, the scale of population covering by medical security has been enlarging gradually, the level of health technology has been raised rapidly, the health level of people has been improved significantly, and the major health indexes of the residents have been ranked ahead among other developing countries. Particularly ever since achieving the major triumph in defeating SARS, the governments at all levels have expanded their engagement, the development of public health, rural medicine and health and civil community health has been accelerated and the new type of agricultural cooperative medicine and basic medical insurance of urban residents have achieved breakthrough, which have lay a good foundation for deepening the reform of the medicine and health system. At the same time, we shall also see that the relatively prominent contradiction between the development of the medicine and health undertakings of the state and the need of health of the people as well as the requirements for the coordinating development of the economy and the society. The development between the urban medicine and health undertakings and the district medicine and health undertakings are not balanced, the allocation of resources are not reasonable, the work in public health and rural and community medicine and health is relatively weak, the medical security system is not sound, the circulating order of medical production is not standardized, the management system and operation mechanism of hospitals are not sound, the input of the government in health is not sufficient and the medical costs rise too fast and weighs too much on individuals, the people react strongly on all of the above.
From now to 2020 is the key period for overall establishment of a well-off society of our country, the work on medicine and health is arduous. Along with the improvement in the economic development and quality of the life of the people, the public will have high expectation on medicine and health services. Industrialization, urbanization, aging population and changes in the disease spectrum and ecological environment have brought a series of new and strict challenges for the work of medicine and health. The deepening of reform of medicine and health system is a strategic choice for speeding up the development of medicine and health undertakings, is an important way to realize the sharing of achievements of reform and development of people, and is the urgent wish of the general population. The deepening of the reform of the medicine and health system is a social system engineering covering a wide range and with major difficulties. In our country, the population is huge, the average income is law, the differences between the cities and countries and between different districts is big, and the country has remained in the primary stage of socialism for a long time, all of the above facts have decided that the deepening of the reform of the medicine and health system is an extremely complicated and arduous task and a progress that takes time, a medicine and health system that meets the national characteristics may be established gradually only through long-term hard work and consistent exploration and is based on the foundation where the direction and frame are clarified. Therefore, in order to deepen the reform of the medicine and health system, it is necessary to be determined, to push forward relentlessly, to organize carefully and to implement steadily, so as to ensure the smooth progress of reform and achieve the expected goal.
II. The guiding ideology, basic principles and overall goal for deepening the reform of the medicine and health system
1. The guiding ideology for deepening the reform of the medicine and health system. To be guided by Den Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of the "three representatives", to apply thoroughly the scientific view on development, to realize the goal that basic medicine and health services are for all to share based on the specific characteristics of our country and useful international experiences, so as to resolve the most concerned, direct and realistic interests of the people. To insist the nature of public medicine and health on public good, to insist the priority of prevention, to focus on rural area and to stress equally on Chinese and western medicine, to apply separation of politics from affairs, administration from operation, hospitals from medicine and profit-making from non-profit-making, to fortify the responsibility and input of the government, to improve the national health policy and sound institutions and systems, to strengthen the supervision and administration, to innovate the system mechanism, to encourage the social participation, to establish a basic medicine and health system covering the need of urban and rural residents and to raise the level of national health, so as to achieve a harmonious society.
2. To deepen the basic principles of the reform of the medicine and health system. The reform of the medicine and health system shall be grounded on the national characteristics and based on reality, and insist on accurate principles of the reform.
To insist on human-centered approach and to prioritize the protection of the rights and interests of the health of the people. To insist on the aim that the medicine and health undertakings are for the service of the health of the people, to focus on protecting the health of the people, to treat the goal that the basic medicine and health service is for all to share as the fundamental starting point, the design of reform plan and the establishment of the health system and service system shall follow the principle of public good, to provide the basic medicine and health system as public products to people, to solve the prominent problems reflected strongly by the people and to realize the goal that the medicine and health system applies to all people.
To insist on being grounded on the national characteristics and to establish a medicine and health system with Chinese characteristics. To insist on starting from the basic national characteristics, summarize the practical experience in the development of the reform of medicine and health undertakings so as to grasp accurately the rhythm and major contradiction of development of the medicine and health undertakings; to insist on the coordination of the level of basic medicine and health service with the social-economic development and the compatibility with the capacity of the people; to fully apply the function of Chinese (ethnic) medicine; and to insist on adapting to local conditions, guiding according to different categories, applying the positive nature locally, so as to establish a basic medicine and health system matching national characteristics.
To insist on fairness and unify the efficiency, the government shall take initiative and which shall combine with the function of the market mechanism. To fortify the responsibility of the government in basic medicine and health system, to strengthen the duties of the government in systems, plans, fund raising, services and supervision, to protect the nature that the public medicine and health are for the public good so as to improve fairness and justice. At the same time, to stress on exerting the function of market mechanism, to motivate the participation of social force, to promote the formation of a orderly competition mechanism, to raise the operation efficiency, service level and quality of the medicine and health undertakings, so as to meet the need of a multi-leveled and diversified medicine and health system of the people.
To insist on overall consideration and combining the solution for prominent problems and improvement of institutions and systems. To start from an overall point of view, to coordinate the development of the cities and districts, to consider the interests of the suppliers and the supplied, to pay attention to the combination of prevention, therapy and convalescence, to handle accurate the relationships among the government, the health institutions, the medical enterprises, the medical personnel and the people. To plan ahead in innovating the system mechanism, while at the same time to be grounded in the moment so as to solve the existing prominent problems in the medicine and health undertakings. To stress on the overall design and clarify the overall reform direction and basic frame, meanwhile to highlight the key points and implement them step by step so as to push the reform actively and steadily.
3. To deepen the overall goal of the reform of the medicine and health system. To establish a sound basic medicine and health system covering the need of urban and rural residents, so as to provide medicine and health service witch is safe, effective, convenient and affordable.
Till 2011, the basic medicine and health system will cover the need of the urban and rural residents, the basic medicine system will be basically established, the urban and rural basic medicine and health system will be further improved, basic public health service will be applied to the general population, the pilot public hospitals will acquire breakthrough, so as to raise the availability of the basic medicine and health service, relieve effectively the burden of medical expenses of the residents, and alleviate the general problem that going to the hospital is difficult and expensive.
Till 2020, the basic medicine and health system covering the need of the urban and rural residents will be basically established. A relatively sound public health service system and medical service system, a relatively sound medical security system, a more standardized medicine supply and protection system and a more scientific medicine and health institution and operation mechanism will be generally established and form a diversified medical structure, everyone will be able to enjoy the basic medicine and health service, which will basically meet the diversified medicine and health needs of the people so as to further raise the health level of the people.
III. To perfect the four major medicine and health systems, and establish a basic medicine and health system covering the need of the urban and rural residents.
To establish the public health service system, medical service system, medical security system and medicine supply and protection system covering the need of the urban and rural residents to form a basic medicine and health system inclusive of the four systems. The four systems shall complement and support one another, and develop coordinately.
4. To strengthen overall establishment of the public health service system. To establish sound and professional public health service network for disease precaution and control, health education, children and maternity health care, mental health, emergency aid, blood collection and supply, health supervision and parenthood planning, etc., to improve the public health service function of the medical service system based on basic medicine and health service network, to establish a public health service system with defined division of duties, interchanged information, shared resources and interactive coordination, to improve the emergency treatment capacity for public health service and sudden public health accidents, and to achieve the goal gradually that the urban and rural residents may enjoy equal basic public health service.
To clarify the scope of the public health service.
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