Recently, six departments including the National Health Commission ("NHC") have jointly issued the Work Plan for Addressing Prominent Problems in Providing Basic Healthcare Security to the Poor (the "Plan").
The Plan comprises six sections. The first section sets forth the standards and requirements for providing basic healthcare security, namely, building three kinds of health institution, employing three kinds of qualified health personnel, meeting three requirements on health service capability, and ensuring full coverage of healthcare security system. Sections Two to Four identify three areas where efforts should be made: (1) Building capacity for county-level hospitals; (2) Building a mechanism in which the healthcare systems of the county and township are integrated, and the healthcare systems of the township and village are integrated; and (3) promoting the standardization for rural healthcare institutions. Section Five stresses the comprehensive prevention and control of diseases in poverty-stricken areas, stipulating that the prevention and control of key infectious diseases and endemic diseases shall be effectively carried out in poverty-stricken areas as required. Section Six introduces the supporting measures: each region shall formulate specific work standard and implementation plan and examine the actual result against the standard; the central finance shall give proper priority to the poverty-stricken areas when increasing its financial support.